Attribution: US Government, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cooperates with the keeper and Phyllis as they try to help others deal with the hack that put the Stormy Daniels Weather Service on the net in place of the old National Weather Service, and everything went to “hail” as …
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Category:Weather
Kickass and Hailstorms
Attribution: Kevain25460, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis puzzling over the reason behind the baseball-sized hail that pounded down at various locations late Tuesday. With most weather phenomenon there is an easily assumed logic as to its benefits—rain and sunshine to make everything grow, …
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Kickass and the Birthday Snowstorm
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reveals that the keeper is responsible for the big storm having ordered it as a birthday present for Phyllis. His thinking was that having been born in Canada, Phyllis must like snow, so he ordered lots of it for her birthday which, being the …
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Kickass Waiting for the Snow
Photo by Russ Williams By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, once demonstrated his difficulty in waiting for something to happen, and perhaps his cloddish nature, by walking out of a live performance of “Waiting For Godot” the classic Beckett play in which two guys lounge about under a tree and talk about expecting Godot …
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Kickass and Winter Memories
Attribution: Photo by Brooke S. on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that over the keeper and Phyllis’s lives of many winters there are memories of very special places of shelter from the cold and snow. One such place, very early in the keeper’s winters, was a home-made box-like cab on a horse-drawn bobsled with …
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Kickass and the Coldest Day
Attribution: Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s plans for this coldest day in years requires very little special equipment beyond a recliner and maybe the hand-knit lap robe from granddaughter Jessie and possibly coffee refills from Phyllis, but not too many so that bathroom trips interfere with the main …
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Kickass and Wind Chill Factor
Attribution: Photo by iuliu illes on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shivers with the keeper and Phyllis and everyone else as the winter of 2026 uses the irritating “wind chill factor” to report flexing its cold muscle. Prior to the 1960’s when the “wind chill factor” became the mainstay of winter weather reporting, cold weather …
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Kickass Goes South
Attribution: Florida Memory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that for many years the keeper would be using these post-holiday days to return his Christmas gifts for cash he could use to buy enough gas to get the hell out of Wisconsin and far enough south to go …
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Kickass and Dog Ski Wax
Attribution: EgorovaSvetlana, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper as he wallows in a memory of the early days of cross-country skiing—wooden skies with metal bindings that required constant attention from the rapidly evolving world of ski wax. To replace out-of-season trout fishing or grouse hunting, the …
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Kickass and Snow Sounds
Attribution: Breaking ground in deep snow by Trevor Littlewood, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in listening to the sounds of a snowy day coming out of the muting gloom: *The scrape of a passing snowplow. *The buzz of the neighbors premature snowblower. *Command signals …
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Kickass and Others’ Misery
Attribution: Javier Vieras, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the sensations to be had by the keeper and Phyllis’s crowd in learning of the misery of others—some sympathy of course, but more feelings that “they” probably deserve it followed by an overall smugness that it is better them …
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Light in the Sky
By Geoff Carter Photos by Geoff Carter My wife and I went up to our cabin in the Wisconsin Northwoods about a week ago to enjoy the fall colors and to relax a little bit. The leaves were a little past their peak, but it was still beautiful. Golden ash, scarlet maple, and yellow birch …
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