Attribution: Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, kept his napping position as the keeper and Phyllis cast their “Midterm” votes at the temporary polling place set up in the Vista West Community Room. It felt good, according to the keeper who compared it to marking territory on Elon Musk’s leg. Musk …
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Category:Kickass
Kickass and Complaint Shortage
Attribution: No machine-readable author provided. Adam the atom assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports an emotional crisis at Vista West where the keeper and Phyllis live when a day of absolutely perfect weather along with family visiting and a Packer victory over the …
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Kickass and the Safe Conduct Pass
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper wondering how to use the “SAFE CONDUCT PASS” that he picked up on the ground 75 years ago while patrolling along Korea’s 38th parallel. The passes were commonly scattered about by the North Korean and Chinese soldiers and they promised such things …
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Kickass Invades Canada
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper offering to advise the POTUS on Canada-US relations, having once a long time ago mounted an invasion of Canada with a force of young family members armed with boundless youthful curiosity and zestful love for life that included all of Canada …
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Kickass and the Great Apple Fight
Attribution: flydime, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that it is apple season and admits that he might have fetched an apple or two in his puppyhood, so he can identify with the keeper’s account of the great apple fight one autumn night in the back alleys of …
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Kickass and Getting Ready for Winter
Attribution: Photo by Fabian Kleiser on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in noting yet again that with very few exceptions all living things do something to prepare to survive the coming winter. Plants drop their sensitive parts and stand as invulnerable stems. Most mammals crawl into holes and sleep. And …
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Kickass and Vista West Memories
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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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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