Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the information from the keeper that when he and Phyllis hiked the trail around Middleton’s Tiedeman Pond it included a blackbird lesson on territorial claims as an irritated male redwing rode on the back of a sandhill crane on the trail just …
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Kickass and Phyllis’s Cancer
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis today in celebrating the “No Evidence of Disease” report regarding Phyllis’ cancer condition. Is this is a great day or what!!!!! Photo by Bill Stokes See more at… The Bill Stokes Author Page
Kickass and Doug Moe
Graphic by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes “Treeson” is an apology to all the trees that went into making the newsprint to carry the author’s “drivel” to readers of The Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal, Wisconsin State Journal and Stevens Point Daily Journal over a 35-year newspaper career back when newspapers mattered. It uses some of …
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Kickass and Bear Hound Training
kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in posing a few questions for Wisconsin residents: 1. Do you know that again this summer bear killers from all over the country will bring their hounds to Wisconsin for “summer training” which means aggressive packs of dogs will rampage …
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Scratching the Surface: Day Tripping at Meow Wolf
Weldon Kennedy from London, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Alternate realities existing on an invisible plane is a commonly recurring theme in modern science (and literary) fiction. Everything from Harry Potter to The Matrix to The Butterfly Effect to Pan’s Labyrinth to Everything Everywhere All at Once features parallel universes just beyond the reach of human senses—or sensibilities. This idea, cojoined …
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Kickass and Swimsuit Issue
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that as a co-editor of the “Breeze” the Vista West residents’ newsletter, he is promoting a “swimsuit” issue, inspired, of course, by Martha Stewart’s appearance, at 81 years old, in the “Sports Illustrated” …
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Kickass Does Not Own a Boat
Aureliocira, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in sorting through the reasons he feels extra good this spring, and one is that he does not own a boat. Add that to the cliché about the two happiest days in a boaters life–the day he buys a …
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Kickass and Mother’s Day Flowers
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, compliments the keeper on his cheapness in contributing to Phyllis’s Mother’s Day by taking her to flowers instead of buying her a bouquet. Meeting her family at the spectacular Trillium display at Wood County’s Bluff Park and finding Marsh Marigolds in a nearby ditch …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Lucky Hank”
Photo by Oscar Nord on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/Sd87V72cJEU Stuck in The Middle: Review of AMC Streaming Series Lucky Hank By Geoff Carter Hank Devereaux, Jr., (Bob Odenkirk), the protagonist—he can hardly be said to be a hero, except perhaps in an accidental sense—is a man mired in the mixed blessings of the life of an academic. He is an …
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Kickass and Males on Mother’s Day
Traceylovesmom, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and the rest of the world’s males on this Mother’s Day to simply say thanks, Mom, and to facetiously ask if you had it to do over again on our behalf, considering the work and worry we caused, would …
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Kickass and Granddaughter Goodbye
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper and Phyllis that, while there was a time when grandchildren grew up and lived out their lives on adjoining farms or in houses down the block where it was possible for grandparents to have frequent contact and to admire and …
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Dialogues on Life During Wartime: Proud to be a “‘Merican”
Fibonacci Blue, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Buenas Noches Bots, Was just talking to a couple locals about events in the US. From here in Costa Rica, much of the news coming out of ‘Merica seems almost surreal …
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