Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, paused with the keeper and Phyllis yesterday for a memory service for the 34 residents who have died at Vista West during the five years it has been open. Considering a resident population of less than 200, some simple math might produce a death …
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Category:Kickass
Kickass Pays His Taxes
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, naps as the keeper consults with his tax advisor, otherwise known as Phyllis, as to the status of his estimated tax account. If there was ever a time for a tax revolt it is now with 750,000 homeless people sleeping in US streets, hungry school …
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Kickass Has No Regrets
Attribution: Photo by Filip Andrejevic on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, goes against the wisdom that dwelling on regrets is pretty much a waste of time, and allows the keeper to dwell on the regret that when he visited Paris many years ago he did not go see the Eiffel Tower. There is no clear …
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Kickass Talks to the Cows
Attribution: StanCoFair, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting, along with the keeper, that if they have not already left town, those hundreds of world class cows in Madison this week for the World Dairy Expo are on their way home, or maybe on to the next show ring. …
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Kickass Watches the Trees Undress
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper deeply immersed in watching the spectacular color changes occurring in the trees that dominate his and Phyllis’s view out across Madison’s Gammon Road. As the trees stood in their staid and steady deep green summer work garb two days ago, it …
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Kickass and Democratic Weather
Attribution: Photo by Shūto Yabuta on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, on this rainy morning of Sept. 30, 2026 joins the keeper in applauding the democracy of rain–step out into it and you get wet no matter who or what you are, or might think you are too important to get rained on. The same …
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Kickass at the Intersection
Attribution: Photo by Connor Gan on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper spending an hour in a UW campus/hospital parking lot next to one of the incredibly busy intersections. The occasion was a Phyllis medical appointment and the keeper had brought along a book to occupy his waiting time. But he never picked …
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Kickass Remembering Jerry and George
Photo courtesy of Bill Stokes By Geoff Carter Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper stumbling across a faded newspaper clipping that detailed one of the tragedies that came to determine the course of his life. And as always the clipping found the keeper and Phyllis reviewing the early tragedy in her life, and how …
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Kickass and Old Press Credentials
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper will be offering his faded press credentials from the 1973 Democrat convention in New York for use in today’s protest gathering of the Silver Badgers and friends at Gammon Road and Tree Lane. The keeper offered the ancient credentials to Phyllis …
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Kickass and Birthday Model T
Photo courtesy of Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s delight with a belated birthday present from Phyllis’s son Kevin in the form of a 3-hour tour on central Wisconsin’s beautiful back roads in a Model-T Ford that was five years older than the keeper, making it close to 100. …
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Kickass and Getting Shots
Attribution: Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noted that the keeper and Phyllis got their “shots” yesterday at the drug store where a friendly young man said he did about 50 every day and his future schedules were full. As he waited, the keeper experienced a daytime dream of sorts: …
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Kickass and the Press Pool
Photo courtesy of Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, hears the keeper out on his account of experiencing the Washington press corps’ wrath for using different strokes while swimming in the press pool aboard the Delta Queen as it floated down the Mississippi with President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn aboard. Here’s the …
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