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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Category:Nature
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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Kickass and Perfect October Day
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis joined the rest of the world Sunday in marking the perfect October day by getting out into it, in their case it was a visit to the Audubon Goose Pond Sanctuary near North Leeds, only to find that …
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Kickass and Reality Denial
Antonio, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has in hand a top- secret document from the Department of Interior that outlines the following: *Preliminary study shows a crossover of the mysterious human brain malfunction of denying reality–“DR” to several bird species causing them to fly …
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Kickass and Bird Migration
Photo by Chris Briggs on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens to the keeper as he stands out on the balcony in the dark of night and delivers a message to the millions of birds now flying invisibly through the night to get to more tolerable locations as the planet tips away from the sun: …
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Kickass and Being a Tree
Good Free Photos, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is rendered helpless in the face of the muse that sometimes attaches to the keeper like a woodtick: ON BEING A TREE I wish that I could be a tree. Gaudy now in autumn glee. I’ll undress soon for winter …
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Kickass Goes to a Prairie
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis with the following advice: Go to a prairie! It will be healing! See more at… The Bill Stokes Author Page