Attribution: Richardfabi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observations as he and Phyllis drove to a Mauston lunch date with Phyllis’s son Todd: This cannot be Wisconsin in mid-February, this brown, snowless land with its clusters of naked trees and exposed expanses of dead …
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Category:Wisconsin
Kickass and the Fox Hunts
Attribution: Photo by Amanda Frank on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper recognizes this time of year as the season of the great fox hunts when he and country cousins and comrades in northwest Wisconsin spent Saturday afternoons slogging through deep midwinter snow as they followed the track of a fox that …
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Kickass and Car Experience
Attribution: Ford Model T, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is fresh off one of those high-tech car experiences that discourages him from so much as opening the hood as corporate decisions and sophisticated techies make a big deal out of a simple dead battery. …
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Kickass and the Groundhog’s Shadow
Attribution: Anthony Quintano from Mount Laurel, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper passes along news that the Repub’s attempts to impeach the groundhog and replace it with a weasel has stalled as the entire weasel family—which includes the badger, serves notice that they …
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Kickass Has Battery Woes
Attribution: New York Public Library, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper has lived with car battery woes his entire long life and it isn’t over yet—the battery woes, that is, as a Subaru battery warranty issue involves a loaner car and an indefinite wait as …
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Kickass Goes Ice Fishing
Attribution: Anneli Salo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting how the unusual winter weather has set up Wisconsin as an ice-fishing mecca; and as descended from a father who viewed the weird sport in religious terms, the keeper recalls with fond memories occasionally joining …
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Kickass in The Deeryard Overnight
Attribution: USFWS Mountain-Prairie, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, comments that it is not as if the keeper runs so short on memories that he must constantly recycle them, it is that some of those memories seem to somehow gain status with the passage of time and demand repeated …
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Dialogues on 2024 Predictions: Meet the New Boss
Attribution: Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Bots, It is often said (by me) that predictions are hard. Especially when they involve the future. But today, feeling introspective on this last day of the year, as beautiful snow flurries create a …
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Kickass Goes Bobsledding
Attribution: Father of JGKlein, used with permission, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in operating in that statistical area of life expectancy of men being less than for women, and also noting the risk involved in growing up with older male cousins and their friends. The …
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Kickass and Winter Escapees
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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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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