Attribution: Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, encourages the keeper in his efforts to extract something useful from the verity that putting on your shoes and socks becomes a vastly different undertaking over the course of a lifetime. From a hurried minute when your youthful mind is on other things—you know …
Read
Category:Aging
Kickass and Old Licenses
Attribution: Photo by Andreas Haubold on Unsplash Kickass, the doorstop dog, warns the keeper that it is possible to overdo in saving mementos as they are wont to span time on very rickety bridges and leave you stranded on an impossible fantasy island. So it was with the keeper’s 1944-1945 Wisconsin resident hunting and trapping licenses that somehow …
Read
Kickass and Five Reasons to Exist
Attribution: Andreas Bohnenstengel, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, warns the keeper and Phyllis that it will obviously only be a matter of time until they get notices from the Fox News rejects and Musk, who are now producing the national tragi-comedy TV show in Washington entitled “What’s …
Read
Kickass and Adjustments
Attribution: Gene Daniels , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is not much help to the keeper as he grapples with changing eyesight conditions due to macular degeneration, which currently has him wearing an eye patch to deal with seeing double images. At this point in his nonagenarian existence, the …
Read
Kickass and the Deer
Attribution: Photo by Prazanthy Ramesh on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assist the keeper in celebrating the keeper’s uncanny foresight in buying a pair of snowshoes on the hottest day of this erratic season. It happened when Phyllis left the keeper unattended at St. Vinny’s and he spotted these beautiful Iverson snowshoes, brand new and …
Read
Kickass and VA Eye Visit
Attribution: Photo by v2osk on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, lends this space to the keeper to update his continuing saga with the VA eye clinic as it treats his advancing macular deterioration–AMD. A three-hour session of examination and consultation with top professionals answered all of the keeper and Phyllis’s questions and assured them that …
Read
Kickass and Driver Numbers
Attribution: Tokumeigakarinoaoshima, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is not involved in the keeper’s project of more publicly identifying drivers as is done in Japan where drivers over 70 are encouraged to display an identifying symbol to get them “more consideration” from other drivers. The keeper is suggesting that …
Read
Kickass and Old Men
Attribution: Andreas Bohnenstengel, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, turns it over to the keeper on this Jan. 17, 2025, as he enjoys morning coffee with Phyllis, reads a bit of poetry and announces that he is happy to be here! John Wick, then in his 90s, rode his …
Read
Kickass and 2025 as a Model A
Attribution: Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, having sampled an entire day of 2025, has consulted with Phyllis and decided to go through the year identifying himself as a car, which in his case would be a Model A Ford made the …
Read
Kickass and Ninety-Year-Olds
Attribution: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and the multitudes in wishing Dick Van Dyke a happy 99th birthday as he dances in a new musical release–“All My Love” and says that his advice for a long life …
Read
Kickass and Friday
Attribution: Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in noting the differing status of “Friday” through the aging process. From its glorious identity as the last day of school before an exciting weekend of carefree party and play, to its lifelong signal as the end of the …
Read
Kickass and Clint Eastwood
Attribution: movie studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sits in along with Phyllis as the keeper has an imaginary meeting with Clint Eastwood regarding Clint’s advice to “Don’t let the old man in!” as a directive in living to an over-ripe old age. Keeper: “You just made another …
Read