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 …
Read
Category:Wisconsin
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 …
Read
Kickass Retires as Hunter
Attribution: Henry Farny, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper submitting his formal resignation as a natural predator, which means, of course, that he is no longer a member of the hunting crowd that now swarms over the land like an alien invasion force. Being a hunter …
Read
Kickass and Depression Food
Attribution: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis, in keeping with their previous plan to turn the calendar instead of the clock back to comply with the daylight savings time scheme, will see the keeper going back to the early 1930’s when …
Read
Kickass and Halloween Witches
Attribution: Photo provided by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper favors Halloween as his favorite holiday for its encouragement to do totally stupid things. It can’t get any stupider than to tip over the outhouse, which was a feature of the keeper’s youthful Halloweens. The advent of modern …
Read
Kickass and Killing Walleye Fishermen
Attribution: Ted Rozumalski, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper in recognizing the popularity of Wisconsin people riding around in small boats; and the apparent enjoyment the demented Trump dynasty gets by using drone weaponry to blow such boats out of the water, killing all aboard …
Read
Kickass and Nude Beach Play
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper is reminded by the cool weather of the time he and his granddaughter Sarah co-authored, produced and presented “Naked at Amazo,” a three-act play, making the point that the nude beach on the nearby Wisconsin River was an insulting detriment to …
Read
Kickass and the Weather
Attribution: freddie marriage fredmarriage, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper being suddenly put in charge of the weather by Phyllis and her fellow Silver Badgers as they join the multitudes of “No Kings” protestors this afternoon along Gammon Road at Tree Lane. Defying the old adage that …
Read
Kickass and Demonstrators
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper will have the “Damn Mad Badger” on a short leash Saturday as Phyllis and hundreds of her fellow Silver Badgers line Gammon Road near Tree Lane on Madison’s westside as part of the national “No Kings” demonstration. 3-4 p.m. Lots …
Read
Kickass and Native Peoples
Attribution: Grand Canyon National Park, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper remarking that celebrating the indigenous people and Columbus on the same day is such a fox-in-the-henhouse situation as to be beyond insulting. During his long journalistic meandering the keeper had many occasions of contact with …
Read
Kickass and Lost in Baraboo Bluffs
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis missing and presumed lost somewhere in the Baraboo Bluffs. While getting lost on the twisting roads through the beautiful thick forests now just beginning their leafy color show was more or less their intention, neither one of them anticipated …
Read
Kickass and Shot in the Arm
Attribution: Photo by Luigi Boccardo on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, turns the morning over to the keeper to review an incident of his boyhood when he and his family shared life with a variety of animals on a small dairy farm in northwest Wisconsin. That sharing went over the top the time the keeper …
Read