Attribution: Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes along with the keeper, the measure of a good day when you are almost as old as the wheel: *Getting out of bed and standing up. *Showering, shaving, dressing and putting on shoes, especially putting on shoes. *Turning on the coffee maker that …
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Category:Aging
Kickass and Blue Moon
Attribution: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper and Phyllis in opting to ignore last night’s 2023 blue moon and wait for the one in 2037, when the keeper will be 106 and hopes to be less distracted in attending to the …
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Kickass and Noise of Living
Attribution: David Benbennick, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, welcomes the keeper and Phyllis back from their five-day runaway to the tiny central Wisconsin lake, and poses the question: If you do not have a job can you legitimately take a vacation? So, it wasn’t a vacation, but rather …
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Kickass and Being an Old Fool
Attribution: Anderson Mancini from Sao Paulo, Brazil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, does his best to help the keeper maintain his standing as “old fool” since that is an identity that he seems to wear most comfortably, and most often. And an incident yesterday so demonstrated the keeper’s …
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Kickass and Tech Isolation
Attribution: Nantucket Historical Association Library, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, having had grandfathers who found it difficult if not impossible to make the transition from horses to automobiles, sympathizes with the old dudes in their painful discoveries that early cars did not respond to …
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Kickass and Packaging
Attribution: Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting the keeper’s never-ending efforts to make the world a better place and to remain relevant in that world, continues to ignore global conflagration, multiple wars, mass shootings and the political clown show while trying to be helpful with such critical things as retaining …
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Time Enough at Last
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In the classic Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last”, mild-mannered and bespectacled bank teller Henry Bemis, constantly bullied by his boss, henpecked by his wife, and belittled by everyone else, can never find time enough to pursue his love of reading—until a nuclear holocaust annihilates the rest …
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Kickass and Exercise Value
Jessica Hines, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on the scene in the exercise room at Vista West: Dorothy at 90 on one stationary bike, the keeper at older- than-that, on another, Phyllis only in her early 80’s, on the treadmill. They pedal and pump and pace, and if …
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Kickass and Phyllis Heart Attack
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in reporting that Phyllis experienced a middle-of-the-night heart attack and is currently recovering at UW Hospital after the insertion of a stent in a totally clogged artery and medication for another that was 70 percent clogged. Phyllis anticipates being released today …
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Kickass and Hearing Aids
bergsten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, accustomed to the keeper’s fumbling through life, now observes how he tries to adjust to the latest attempt by the VA and the tech world to keep him in the relevance mix by issuing him the very latest in hearing aids. That …
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Kickass and D-Day
Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis are among the Vista West residents who gather weekly for a “Happy Hour” event at which there is mild and usually light-hearted celebration of having survived another week. Yesterday–June 6, the group was …
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Kickass Deals with Sleep Apnea
Dyolf77, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, never has trouble sleeping, but the keeper, with his mild case of sleep apnea, does, and as usual he took his troubles to the VA where the sleep lab prescribed a device that fits in his nostrils to retard the ease of exhaling which in …
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