The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Roberto Ciucci, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkey_Gaziantep_going_to_school_(14166610457).jpg
Category:Humor
Kickass and Body Parts
Attribution: FE2656BA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be working with the keeper to bring the business of human spare parts out of the medical shadows and into the strip malls with the auto parts dealers where it will be more accessible and perhaps even competitive. Based on …
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Kickass and Blueberry Pie
Attribution: Jessica Spengler, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens as the keeper announces the gold medalist of blueberry pie makers as Cyndy A, who also medaled in the soup-making competition as she generously responded to Phyllis’s temporary culinary sidelining due to hip replacement surgery. Lots of people reacted …
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Kickass and Loud Mufflers
Attribution: National Archives at College Park , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper is on yet one more of his “do good” efforts, this one being the control of those young idiots who modify their vehicle exhaust systems to make them sound like WWII bombing raids complete …
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Kickass and Dreams
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens as the keeper lists a new area of complaint, that being the mysterious process by which dream subjects are selected and then produced. One might think with all the raw material the keeper has amassed he would not be plagued with a repeated …
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Kickass and UW Health
Attribution: Av9, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, fresh from exposure to the sprawling UW health care system as he retrieves Phyllis from her hip replacement surgery, concludes that the modern hospital may be both the ultimate point of civilization’s advance and the most complex …
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Kickass and Political Animals
Attribution: Guido Gerding, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in noting that there has been a flurry of internet photos of Dem. veep candidate Tim Walz holding various animals—dogs, a cat and even a pig, all the while smiling and appearing comfortable in animal company. …
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Kickass and New Right Hip
Attribution: Smith & Nephew, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in reporting that Phyllis’s hip joint replacement surgery went well and she will likely return home today. Not intending to make trouble, but the keeper is a bit concerned that Phillis has a new “right” hip and …
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Kickass and Phyllis’s New Hip
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports waking up much earlier than usual as Phyllis and the keeper headed across town to get a new right hip joint for Phyllis, the old one being high-mileage and worn out as a result in part of Phyllis having hiked in every national …
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Kickass Visits the Prairie
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper and Phyllis that this is the time of prairie glory with such expansive growth of spectacular blossoming plants as to defy description.  On a recent tour of family property west of Madison, Vista West neighbors Joyce and Jerry hosted the keeper …
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Kickass Welcomes Auggie
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the rest of the herd in welcoming newest member “August” produced by Natalie and Eliot and coming in as a 21-incher as measured in trout-fishing terms. Welcome, August! You are entering a wild old world at a time …
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Kickass and Sisters and Brothers
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, endorses the keeper’s observation that the gathering at the riverside cookout on a recent hot afternoon had a lot to do with Woodington sisters and Stokes brothers with histories dating back to the early days of Madison’s near westside communities. The sisters and brothers …
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