Attribution: Michelle Buntin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, uses his superior scenting abilities to assist the keeper in sniffing out the fact that there exists a painful parallel in the outrageous bear hound training now occurring in Wisconsin’s north woods and the absurd gerrymandered political scene prevailing statewide …
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Category:Nature
Kickass and Rock River Tour
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observations after he and Phyllis did one of their aimless meanders along the Rock River in the area where Chief Blackhawk first struggled and subsequently failed to preserve his native people from the ravishing of narcissistic invaders. *The afternoon whispering …
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Kickass and Mike Adventure: Part 2
kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the latest expedition involving the keeper and his son Mike will not rank up there with their attempt some years ago to float rivers down to New Orleans and only getting as far as Spring Green, but there is a …
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Kickass and Mike Adventure
Attributon: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that Phyllis wisely chooses to stay home, as the keeper and his son Mike head north with a number of missions on their itinerary: *Find out just what it is that motivates grown men …
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Kickass Talks to Blackhawk
Charles Bird King , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that as the keeper and Phyllis drove across the beautiful rolling hills and river valleys of southwest Wisconsin on the 4th of July on their way to a unique and pricey tourist lunch in Galena, the keeper felt compelled to …
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Another Breath of Fresh Air
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Life seems more hectic, frantic, and stressful than ever before. Not only do we have the usual worries about money, health, and our kids, but we also have additional anxieties concerning climate change, political extremism, mass shootings, raging pandemics, government dysfunction (maybe not such a new problem) plus …
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Kickass and Fallingwater
lachrimae72, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s efforts to rid his cluttered mental closet of trash has finally taken up his thinking that Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwaters” house in Pa. is an offense to a beautiful natural stream and would justifiably be illegal in Wisconsin. Building …
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Kickass and Beautiful Birdsong
Rennett Stowe from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper received a rare treat for his new hearing aids when Phyllis opened the balcony door and instead of the usual chorus of sparrow chirping there was a birdsong that at first seemed too beautiful to be true. It …
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Fall of a Sparrow
Photo by Carlos Quintero on Unsplash By Geoff Carter “We defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” –William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, Scene ii I was sitting in my kitchen the other day, doing some writing and looking out our picture window at the backyard occasionally. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. The …
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Kickass and John Muir
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in sending a brief message to John Muir, wherever he might be: “John: “It is a glorious Sunday–May 21, 2023, and we are here at the lake on your old farmstead in Marquette county; and it is so blissfully …
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Kickass and Sharing the Trail
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the information from the keeper that when he and Phyllis hiked the trail around Middleton’s Tiedeman Pond it included a blackbird lesson on territorial claims as an irritated male redwing rode on the back of a sandhill crane on the trail just …
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Kickass and Bear Hound Training
kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in posing a few questions for Wisconsin residents: 1. Do you know that again this summer bear killers from all over the country will bring their hounds to Wisconsin for “summer training” which means aggressive packs of dogs will rampage …
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