Attribution: USFWS Mountain Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis issuing the following executive order: All Wisconsin residents and visitors shall, within the next few days, immerse themselves in the birthing of the summer of 2025. It is a magnificent thing: trees in colorful new-leaf …
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Category:Environment
Happy Earth Day from The Pen in Hand
Attribution: Bill Anders, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Be Kind to Our Planet…
Kickass and Earth Day 2025
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper acknowledging this Earth Day with a salute to Phyllis who lives in harmony, helpfulness and respect for the besieged Earth far in excess of the keeper’s slovenly ways. Once on an early Earth Day, the keeper canoed down the Namakagon River …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right over. It’s very convenient. It’s also …
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Dialogues on Rebuilding the Canadian Pipeline: Enbridge Too Far
Attribution: USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring The Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., and Geoff Carter Bots, You may have heard of the controversy over Enbridge Line 5. Or not. You may not even be interested! But here goes. Sorry, this is lengthy and the payoff is not …
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A Day with the Whales
Photo by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter Last week, we had the opportunity to go on a whale watching expedition and photo shoot in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Banderas Bay, on which Vallarta is located, is a favored breeding ground for the great humpbacked whales. These magnificent creatures come from as far away as the waters …
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Time of the Season
The Pen in Hand Blog
Illustration by Michael DiMilo
The Beat Goes On
Illustration by Micheal DiMilo By Geoff Carter Because of heart disease in my family, I recently had to undergo a battery of cardio testing. There was the ECG, the stress test, and the cardio imaging test. For the final test, I was placed on my side and ultrasound machine took pictures of my heart at …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December, 2019) Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right over. …
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Kickass and Bear Hound Training
kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in posing a few questions for Wisconsin residents: 1. Do you know that again this summer bear killers from all over the country will bring their hounds to Wisconsin for “summer training” which means aggressive packs of dogs will rampage …
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Days of the Locust
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We humans are the greatest of Earth’s parasites. –Martin H. Fischer Anyone who’s studied high school biology—or spent a summer evening outdoors in Wisconsin—is familiar with the concept of parasitism, an association between two organisms in which one benefits, or survives, at the expense of another. Mosquitoes, ticks, …
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Kickass Advises Bear
National Park Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in advising the black bear that has been roaming the west Madison area: for god’s sake go back to your den and get back to sleep, it is still winter in all of Wisconsin and if your …
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