Attribution: ECP from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in sending an early winter notice to those who temporarily left Wisconsin some months ago to avoid hazardous ice, deep snow, bone-chilling cold and endless commercials for winter-related maladies: OFFICIAL WINTER ABSENTEE NOTICE Your …
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Category:Wisconsin
The Joey’s Song Concert 2024: A Night to Remember
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I was recently invited to go to the recent Joey’s Song concert in Madison, Wisconsin, by my brother-in-law Michael DiMilo (also a gifted artistic contributor to the Pen in Hand). Michael had been asked to create some of his signature animations for the show, which is an annual …
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Kickass and Big Pickups
Attribution: Elise240SX, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on the good fortune of the keeper and Phyllis in escaping an intersection collision thanks to the interference run by the driver of a big black pickup. While the keeper was simultaneously making the turn with the pickup, a car …
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Kickass and Manure Sleigh
Attribution: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, says the keeper suggests that only a few dog walkers could identify with the keeper’s reminisce of frigid winter mornings when his youthful presence in northwest Wisconsin was dictated by the necessity of dealing with animal waste. Nothing …
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Kickass and Snow Removal
Attribution: Oto Zapletal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in enjoying the current winter excess from behind thick panes of glass while watching the scurrying and beeping and blinking of the army of snow removal machines. Never intending to make trouble, but the question …
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Kickass and Leopold’s Dog
Attribution: Pacific Southwest Region 5, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper’s plan to spend this stormy day inside with Phyllis, doing a post birthday party for Aldo Leopold who was born on Jan. 11, 1887 and died Apr. 21, 1948 at the age of 60 …
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Kickass Says Goodbye, Bernie
Attribution: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on a recent lunch gathering at which a discussion of the conversational use of “per se” was on the table after a precise definition by Bernie Cohen got the matter up for grammatical grabs. Bernie has been bringing such …
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Kickass and Blizzard Prep
Attribution: Photo by Patino Jhon on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s insightful suggestion that in surviving the upcoming winter storm it is important to have appropriate equipment ready for the worst blizzard conditions, hence a careful check on the living room recliners used by Phyllis and the keeper to deal with …
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Kickass and Winter Badgers
Attribution: Gary M. Stolz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is unable to prevent the keeper from stirring up the garbage in the typical Wisconsin winter life he and Phyllis share with all the rest of the Badgers: 1. A dictator named Vos leading a minority-representative legislature that is kept …
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Kickass and the Happy New Year
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis, wanting to keep their coughing colds something private and precious, cancelled out on Andy and Ohm’s New Year’s eve party and therefore missed an opportunity to revisit their former Mazomanie home on the hill and to share the …
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Dialogues on Getting Schooled: The High in Higher Education
Attribution: Tichnor Brothers, Publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Found this insightful, if not entertaining. Gail and Brett…and others have been espousing the value of the 3 year college degree—fits like a glove with this Economist value centric …
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The Miseducation of America
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The 1983 study, “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform” sounded major alarms about the American public education system. It maintained that our schools were failing because that, among other things, that SAT scores had dropped drastically, students could no longer write coherent essays, draw inferences, …
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