Attribution: Photo by Brooke S. on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that over the keeper and Phyllis’s lives of many winters there are memories of very special places of shelter from the cold and snow. One such place, very early in the keeper’s winters, was a home-made box-like cab on a horse-drawn bobsled with …
Read
Category:Humor
Kickass and the Coldest Day
Attribution: Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s plans for this coldest day in years requires very little special equipment beyond a recliner and maybe the hand-knit lap robe from granddaughter Jessie and possibly coffee refills from Phyllis, but not too many so that bathroom trips interfere with the main …
Read
Kickass and Wind Chill Factor
Attribution: Photo by iuliu illes on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shivers with the keeper and Phyllis and everyone else as the winter of 2026 uses the irritating “wind chill factor” to report flexing its cold muscle. Prior to the 1960’s when the “wind chill factor” became the mainstay of winter weather reporting, cold weather …
Read
Kickass and Volunteers
Attribution: Photo by Austin Kehmeier on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in saluting the countless people out there everywhere who really define what it means to be a human being, and specifically an American human–a decent, thoughtful, generous, multiethnic American who wears the “VOLUNTEER” label. The VOLUNTEERS are everywhere, quietly …
Read
Kickass Sues Himself
Attribution: Alchemist-hp (talk) (www.pse-mendelejew.de), FAL, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper following Phyllis’s lead in doing some ancestry work and finding that he may be eligible for a “return-to-sender” trip to Norway. It seems that when Great-grandpa Helgeland stepped off the boat from Norway he signed an agreement …
Read
Kickass Delivers a Piano
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Vrsooo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fritz_Dobbert_Upright_Piano_from_the_1970%27s_1.jpg
Kickass and Minnesota National Guard
Attribution: Photo courtesy of Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper went through Army basic training under a newly activated New Ulm, Minnesota National Guard unit in 1950 at Camp Rucker, Alabama. Close-order drill on the hot Alabama sand was shouted out by Corporal Dormier, and as the keeper …
Read
Kickass and Burning Theater
Attribution: Courtesy of Orange County Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shares a quandary with the keeper and Phyllis and everyone else–trapped in a burning theatre of the absurd with only doubtful response to their shouts of “FIRE!” As flames eat through the roof and a madman stars …
Read
Kickass and Help for the Elderly
Attribution: Photo by Mobio Marketing on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper and Phyllis’s adjustment to accepting age-related considerations with grace and appreciation. Those appropriate response do not arrive without some early resistance, like when the first overt offers of assistance come as implied insults that you are too old to do it …
Read
Kickass and Shoes and Socks
Attribution: Photo by Fotógrafo Samuel Cruz on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper is ever anxious to follow the dictates of nature through the aging process—if running poses a balance issue, don’t run; when your vision fades, get glasses; when your waistline expands buy bigger pants, etc.. So, what to do with the natural …
Read
Kickass and WORRY Suggestions
Attribution: Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis searching for things to divert thinking away from the cruel absurdity of the government killing off the citizenry. It was after electric starters had replaced hand cranks in the automobile world and engine design was either V-8 or in-line, …
Read
Kickass and “Put Down” Decision
Attribution: Nhandler, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reminds the keeper and Phyllis of that time at the shelter when the “put down” decision is made for whatever reason—injury, old age, homelessness, friendlessness, contrary attitude, or etc. Such decision making came to mind Sunday as millions of people came …
Read