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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Category:Nature
Days of the Locust
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We humans are the greatest of Earth’s parasites. –Martin H. Fischer Anyone who’s studied high school biology—or spent a summer evening outdoors in Wisconsin—is familiar with the concept of parasitism, an association between two organisms in which one benefits, or survives, at the expense of another. Mosquitoes, ticks, …
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Kickass Advises Bear
National Park Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in advising the black bear that has been roaming the west Madison area: for god’s sake go back to your den and get back to sleep, it is still winter in all of Wisconsin and if your …
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Kickass and Arbor Day
D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in celebrating Arbor Day, the inclusion of trees in their respective lives being different in some ways but similar in others, namely a lack of respect. The keeper has attempted to make amends with publication of his …
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Kickass and Hummingbird Soup
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, has some doubts about the keeper’s project of teaching hummingbirds to eat sunflower seeds so he can stay within the “only hummingbird feeders rule” on the balconies at Vista West where he and Phyllis reside. So far the finches and sparrows, while demonstrating a …
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Kickass Feeds Hummingbirds
Pslawinski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper will be complying with the rule allowing only hummingbird feeders out on his balcony by watching the little hummers adjust to eating sunflower seeds and cracked corn. The necessity of cooperation in tiered living arrangements is important, but a …
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Kickass and Loving White Pine
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s life-long affair with white pine was most recently exercised in his construction of desk shelves from white pine left over from his house building back in 2000. Other than being caught foolishly standing on a folding chair with a can of …
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A Breath of Fresh Air
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Like almost everyone, my wife and I had family come into town come to see us during the holidays. We had a very nice visit, and, on their last day here, we had to decide between going to Milwaukee County Zoo or the Mitchell Park Horticultural Domes. There …
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Kickass and Crow Rejection
Photo by Niklas Veenhuis on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes on the keeper’s mental jousting as he strives to find something positive in most things, even including the abject rejection by the neighborhood crows who have not done so much as a fly-over of the balcony where for most of the past year there …
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Birds-Eye View
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I received a somewhat surprising gift for my birthday recently. My wife gave me a bird feeder fitted with a digital camera that streams images of our backyard friends directly onto our handheld devices. The pictures are brilliant, sharp, and completely engaging. It’s as if the birds are …
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Kickass and Shortest Day
Herb Roe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the shortest day of the year produced for the keeper, the longest appreciation for being around to be a part of it–in a warm, safe place in the company of his love, Phyllis. In the interests of science, the …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December, 2019) Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right over. …
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