Kickass and the Morning Maze

Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper starts every morning looking out across the parking lot at the schools and the streets and the many distant buildings, and then marveling at how everybody gets where they need to be in such a fast-paced routine of sharing intersections and …
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Kickass and Saving Beagles

Attribution: Photo by David Gomez on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, would be traitorous to his species if he did not encourage the keeper to at least acknowledge the chaotic scene that has been playing out at the dog breeding and research facility in rural Dane County. Hundreds of activists have attempted to “rescue” some …
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Kickass and the Wisconsin River

Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis’s relationships with rivers has been long and varied, and in the keeper’s case fraught with challenge, particularly with the Wisconsin River where ambitious river projects have often turned to minor disasters and embarrassment. An example might be the expedition …
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Kickass and Stormy Daniels Weather

Attribution: US Government, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cooperates with the keeper and Phyllis as they try to help others deal with the hack that put the Stormy Daniels Weather Service on the net in place of the old National Weather Service, and everything went to “hail” as …
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Kickass and the Hereafter

Attribution: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting that dogs have delegated their hereafter administering to humans and they are therefore all going to heaven—the dogs not the humans, the keeper, as he gets ever closer to the head of the big line, notes some …
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Kickass and Having a Book

Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper joins Phylis in announcing that the keeper will no longer be working long hours on “Oh, The Women!” his novel about women saving the world from the ravishes of libido-driven men. It is finished, or “abandoned” in a form the …
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Kickass and Hailstorms

Attribution: Kevain25460, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis puzzling over the reason behind the baseball-sized hail that pounded down at various locations late Tuesday. With most weather phenomenon there is an easily assumed logic as to its benefits—rain and sunshine to make everything grow, …
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Kickass and Seventh Anniversary

Attribution: Photo by Natalie Kinnear on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reminds the keeper that he is a lucky man in that when he forgot it was his and Phyllis’s 7th wedding anniversary until it was too late to really celebrate it, so had Phyllis. Engrossed in a variety of personal projects, the anniversary day slipped …
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Kickass and Old Drivers

Attribution: Photo by Neda Vidakovic on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis winding up their long relationships with vehicles with a faithful Subaru that rests docilely in basement parking until there is a medical or supply need and the keeper assumes the driver’s seat with Phyllis occupying the “participating passenger position.” …
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Kickass and Cow Party

Attribution: Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in lamenting the demise of yet one more sign of spring—the “cow party” which was the day the cows, after a winter of standing in cramped stalls, were turned loose in the cow yard or pasture for an exercise opportunity. …
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Kickass and Menopause

Attribution: Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper wondering how he might upgrade the evolutionary status of old men to match that of old women who, after they are no longer able to bear children, are still seen by the one and only evolutionary …
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