Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, can attest to the fact that if the keeper were a dog he might have difficulty following the rules of “fetch.” It is the warning signs for “Road Closed” that have caused him the most trouble down through the years, but after many lessons …
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Category:Wisconsin
Kickass and Farewell to Tony Earl
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes with the keeper that the flag in front of Vista West and those elsewhere across the state are at half-mast today in honor of Tony Earl who died this week at the age of 86, leaving in the wake of his life more friends …
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Kickass and Migration Therapy
Photo by Geoff Carter on Birdfy by Netvue By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in doing something about the weather. The plan is to convert a nearby vacant child-care facility into a Migration Disaster Center to provide counseling for robins, cranes and other bird species that erroneously assumed that by Mardi …
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Kickass and Post-Larry Meiller Show
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, fresh from his stint on Larry Meiller’s WPR radio show to promote his book “Treeson: An APOLOGIA to Trees” now suspects that he might have spent his life working in the wrong communications medium, print as compared to radio. Had …
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Kickass and the Symphony
Photo by Samuel Sianipar on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis heard the Madison symphony and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor Sunday in the big room of the Overture Center through the courtesy of good friend Tom Humphry. They are not regular concert goers, at least not under the stylized symphony circumstances, …
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Kickass and Larry Meiller Show
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the info that the keeper will be on Larry Meiller’s WPR radio show Tuesday at 11 am to talk about his book “Treeson: an ALOLOGIA To Trees” that went to make the paper used to print the keeper’s 35 years of newspaper …
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Kickass and Deserted Dells
Jonas Dovydenas , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes with the keeper that now is the time to visit Wisconsin Dells, which he–the keeper and Phyllis did Sunday. It was largely a drive-through the water park area since the keeper’s idea of water fun is using water to make coffee. Their unobstructed walk …
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Kickass and Bear Hounding
Attribution: Wenzel Ignaz Brasch (1708-1761), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, goes along with the keeper on this coldest Wisconsin morning of the year to point out the dumbest circumstance prevailing in a state that was once a respected leader in conservation issues: narcissistic bear hunters, many from other …
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Kickass and Noisy Winter Guys
Jeroen Kransen, Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in a salute to: “The Noisy Guys of Winter” Into the snowy white silence Come the noisy guys of winter. Blinking yellow trucks scraping loud, Parking lot tractors pinging in reverse. Recycle rigs banging bins and doors. …
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Kickass and Use of Gravity
English: Staff Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, aids the keeper in spreading the word that, contrary to the cliché that gravity is not a friend to the keeper’s age group, the opposite is true: it is very friendly if used properly. Now with the return …
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Kickass and January Rain
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper sipping from his first cup of coffee on a rainy January morning, sniffing with the dregs of a stubborn cold, but generally feeling smug about his good fortune in having accidentally migrated far enough south from his northern Wisconsin birthplace to …
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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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