Attribution: T. H. Heard (engraver), Heard, T. H. (engraver, active ca. 1879) (Engraver) Harper’s magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, ever anxious to share his vast store of rural knowledge with innocent citified friends, notes that growing up “country” means being surrounded by critters …
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Category:Wisconsin
Kickass and Girls’ Ride Home
Attribution: Photo by A n v e s h on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper identifying with FBI director Kash Patel on the possible fallout of giving girlfriends a ride home. When it happened to the keeper, that fallout literally turned his life around. He was doing the chivalrous task of giving …
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Kickass and the Speed of Electricity
Attribution: Thomas Booker (CoderThomasB), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, observes, along with the keeper and Phyllis, that life is a continuous process of learning from the curious among us, such as Louie the hired man who once challenged the horse barn ghost to come out and account for itself. …
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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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Kickass and Deer Stand Thoughts
Attribution: Photo by Uta Scholl on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes, along with the keeper and Phyllis, a most unusual circumstance across Wisconsin this morning: thousands of people—mostly men, sit in remote wooded locations alone with their thoughts while holding a gun capable of killing a large animal at great distances. If this morning’s …
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Kickass and Day Before Hunt
Attribution: Marc St. Gil, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that in the keeper’s long life of excesses, nothing looms any more excessive than his involvement with Wisconsin’s traditional nine-day deer hunt which this year begins tomorrow morning at ——-a.m. As a complete record would show—and the keeper …
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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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Time of the Season
The Pen in Hand Blog
Illustration by Michael DiMilo
Kickass and Leghold Traps
Attribution: Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, gives the podium to the keeper this morning to confess yet once again his unconscionable use of leghold traps during his predator youth of catch, kill, consume or market all lesser creatures. It is painful for him to …
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Kickass and First Snow
Attribution: W.carter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting the keeper’s long experience in dealing with seasonal rotations, consulted with him on the appropriate reaction to the first “dusting” of snow on portions of the local landscape. The keeper’s response follows: “Don’t cry. Crying only turns tears into …
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