Maasaak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally posted in December, 2020) By Geoff Carter We thought we had it made after getting out of 2020, but this has been another hard year—remembering everything that happened is painful—but we have to; if we do not remember, we’ll be doomed to repeat the same mistakes yet again. …
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Category:Holidays
Kickass and Colorado Fire
(Photograph used by permission of the USDA Forest Service.), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, like everyone else with family or loved ones in Colorado, made a phone call—to his son Rick and wife Becky who live in a Denver suburb, to be reassured that …
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A Few Good Things
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I’ve been mentoring new teachers in our local public school system for the past few years now. One characteristic I’ve noticed both with them (and myself, during my own career as a teacher) is that every instructor, no matter how experienced, always has one of those classrooms that …
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Kickass and Snow Denial Plan
Taxiarchos228, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is assisting the keeper in distributing instructions for using the Snow-Denial plan which, incidentally, is similar to how the Repubs embrace the “big lie.” Fact one: Though the ground is covered with something white, that could be god’s dandruff as these things are …
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Kickass and Christmas Dog Fight
Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that even including a brief but vicious dog fight in the middle of the living room, the Christmas Day gathering with the keeper and Phyllis will go into the records as another delightful memory maker. Phyllis’s production …
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Kickass Remembers Uncle Alvin
Joseph Morewood Staniforth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper as he—the keeper, remembers Uncle Alvin and a host of others who once were essential to a complete Christmas Day. They may be gone but they will never be forgotten, and the memories of them come back with …
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The Pen in Hand Presents a Michael DiMilo Production…
Babs and Knuckles in their Holiday Special Deck the Halls Artwork by Michael DiMilo Video and Story by Michael DiMilo In memory of Dave Bolyard The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions …
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Kickass and Believing
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has inside information that Santa accidentally touched the screen on his sleigh’s dashboard when it was in navigation mode, and the reindeer are now doing a U-turn over Butternut, Wisconsin, a small community that—like the rest of the state–believes. Earlier, …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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Kickass on Giving and Receiving
State Library of New South Wales collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is trying to communicate to the keeper just how to deal with giving and receiving in this season when the claim is promoted that “giving” produces greater satisfaction than “receiving.” That is hogwash, of course. Take …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted December 2020) As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael 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 …
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