Attribution: Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and everyone else in pausing to honor the librarians on this special day. With grandson Bud Andrews a librarian in LaCrosse and with memories of his librarian mother in Barron where he grew up, the keeper has these …
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Dialogues on the Florida GOP: A Visit to the Elephant Graveyard
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter The “abortion issue” rubber is about to hit the road in Florida. Their state Supreme Court just made two rulings: 1) Upholding the 6-week limit passed last year by the FL legislature, and signed …
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Kickass and Eclipse Glasses
Attribution: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be helping the keeper in his project to reclaim and repurpose all the now useless eclipse viewing glasses for viewing TV during the current political campaign. Like the warning about eye damage occurring from viewing the eclipse without the …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “True Detective: Night Country”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Because the Night: Review of True Detective: Night Country By Geoff Carter While The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies typically focuses on—well, movies, we will occasionally stray into the realm of the small screen—which is not so small anymore, mostly because that since HBO premiered series like Oz, Six Feet …
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Kickass and the Eclipse
Attribution: Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper has prepared for the eclipse by practice napping and will be more than ready when the solar system shades are briefly pulled today. Contrary to the inane blather from MTG the brainless congressional scarecrow identifying the eclipse as a Divine …
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Kickass and Geordan’s Autism
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was a listener as the keeper and Phyllis entertained Phyllis’s son Kevin and grandson Geordan in one of those wonderful Saturday afternoon family conversations that knows no bounds and runs the gamut from the profound to the absurd with emphasis on the latter and …
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Kickass and the Seagulls
Attribution: Photo by Mariah Hewines on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is taking a new tack is his efforts to keep a small flock of chickens on the balcony of the Vista West apartment he shares with Phyllis. Finding a lack of enthusiasm on the part of VW management, the keeper …
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Kickass and Madison Sunrise
Attribution: Todd Klassy from Madison, WI, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper in watching the sunrise this morning, as his angle of view put some of the first brilliant rays in close proximity to the State Capitol, an obvious omen of a coming day of …
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Kickass and Grandpa Helgeland
Attribution: Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956, artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, and Phyllis know that the keeper is easily entertained so it should be no surprise for them to learn that he—the keeper began his daily memory patrol with an image of his gangly old Norwegian grandfather trotting …
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The Beat Goes On
Illustration by Micheal DiMilo By Geoff Carter Because of heart disease in my family, I recently had to undergo a battery of cardio testing. There was the ECG, the stress test, and the cardio imaging test. For the final test, I was placed on my side and ultrasound machine took pictures of my heart at …
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Kickass and April Blizzard
Attribution: Photo by Jan Dommerholt on Unsplash Written by Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper headed out for his Prairie du Sac dental appointment shortly before 3 pm Tuesday just as the day-long rain turned to a heavy snowfall. With compromised visibility and almost immediate accumulated inches of soggy snow and drivers suddenly unable …
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Kickass and Staying in Bed
Attribution: Photo by jurien huggins on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper that there are days when the contrary Wisconsin weather crosses the line and the only thing to do is to stay in bed. Today is one of those days. But the keeper has a dental appointment 20 miles away about …
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