Attribution: HarvestLife, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, acts with some ambiguity with the keeper and Phyllis as they absorb the National Geographic announcement that Madison has been named one of the “best cities in the world” to spend 2027. On the one hand there will be an increase …
Read
Category:Wisconsin
Kickass and Pheasant Hunting
Attribution: Photo by Doncoombez on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes his and the keeper’s retirement from hunting as the past weekend marked the opening of the Wisconsin pheasant hunting season, an activity as propped up as a shotgun wedding. The hunt involves a chicken-sized exotic bird with spectacular colorful plumage, raised by the state by …
Read
Dialogues on the Designated Underdog: A Dadbot History of the Brewers 2026 National League Division Series
Attribution: Photo by Smithsonian on Unsplash Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter (The Beginning: September 27, 2026) Rais’en a toast w/me d-bots to the Milwaukee Brewers. Na zdrowie! Only 11 more to get. A (shifty), baker’s dozen. ( I’ve thanked MO, more than once for …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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. …
Read
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 …
Read
Kickass Marks Labor Day
Attribution: Roadside Wildflowers, Droveway Lane by Des Blenkinsopp, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, aware that the keeper and Phyllis descend from the laboring class, will honor them today with extra napping on this Labor Day Monday. He suggests the same for everyone. Since 1894, Labor Day has marked a …
Read
Kickass and the Log-Walk to School
Attribution: Joshua Mayer from Madison, WI, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper coming late to the competition for the toughest walk to school–uphill and into the wind both ways, amends his entry to include the log walk into time. This did not involve just …
Read
Kickass and the Railroad Cougar
Attribution: Photo by Michael Jerrard on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, with a special feeling for cats, passes along to the keeper and Phyllis the news of a cougar found cut in half on the railroad tracks near Friendship in Adams County. The big cat was an adult male wearing a Michigan tracking collar from …
Read
Kickass and Norske Nook Pie
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper that there are not many occasions that cannot be improved by a piece of pie, and if it is baked and served at one of the three Norske Nook locations in Wisconsin there is a spiritual quality to the event. …
Read