Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper is still around on this Memorial Day to get his usual note off to the two I & R platoon mates who are NOT around and haven’t been since the artillery shell took them out the day after their squad …
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Category:Holidays
Kickass and World Mom
Attribution: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the rest of the world to pause this day to think about Mom without whom none of us would be here. Thanks for that, Mom. And we know that if you were in charge, the …
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Kickass and Santa Eavesdrop
Attribution: Douglas Rahden, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper tuning in his special communication skills to eavesdrop on a conversation from the North Pole: Santa: “Do we have any limits on the number of dolls we can deliver to one little girl?” Elf No. 1: “No Sir. It …
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Happy Earth Day from The Pen in Hand
Attribution: Bill Anders, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Be Kind to Our Planet…
Kickass and the Easter Pig
Attribution: Becproud, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper awoke on this Easter Sunday anticipating the feast to come–ham by son Mike, Saskatoon berry pie by Phyllis, and appetizers by the keeper and neighbors Hester and Larry. In his aimless salivating and boundless cultural confusion, the …
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Happy Easter from The Pen in Hand
Easter in the City Photos by Geoff Carter
Kickass and Good Friday
Attribution: Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in embracing this GOOD Friday of 2025 in the literal sense and simply agreeing with everyone that it is GOOD to be here. And if that is felt with a bit more conviction in their age group it is …
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Kickass and Rabbit Eggs
Attribution: Photo by Zachariah Smith on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, in his unwavering efforts to keep the keeper at least as relevant as bathroom tissue, hears him as he asks the following burning question: If the rabbits were able to wrest the Easter egg extravaganza away from the chickens is there nothing they wouldn’t …
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Kickass and Sixth Anniversary
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cheers on the keeper and Phyllis as they celebrate their 6th wedding anniversary with a Vietnamese dinner at Pho Nam where Phyllis drank from a coconut and the keeper demonstrated anew that he will never master eating noodles using chopsticks. In their Vista West crowd, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Best of the Irish Cinema
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The Pen in Hand’s Top Ten St. Patrick’s Day Movies By Geoff Carter It’s that time of year again, that special day of days set aside to celebrate the joy of being Irish. Green beer, corned beef sandwiches, the wearing of the green, The Chieftains spinning on your turntable, and a …
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Kickass and Going to the Moon
Attribution: NASA / USGS (see PIA04304 catalog page), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stayed home as the keeper and Phyllis went across the street to the Memorial High School Planetarium for a great “heart”-themed show that refreshed their perspectives that as tiny heaps of casually arranged cells, they …
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Kickass and Stupid Cupid
Attribution: Photo by Volodymyr Tokar on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has his application in to replace Cupid with “Stupid” as the Valentines Day symbol in keeping with the current trend for utterly unqualified candidates assuming positions of great responsibility. As the keeper becomes widely known as Valentines Day “Stupid” and …
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