“Oscar the Elf” Photo by Geoff Carter
Kickass and Blowing Boats
Attribuiton: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adrian White, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens with one ear as the keeper mumbles about being descended from immigrants who stomped across the country using greed and indifference to brutally destroy the native culture and its harmonious …
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Problem Child
Attribution: DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter I was a high school teacher for thirty-four years before I entered the blissful ranks of the retired. Most of my time as an instructor was spent in Home and Hospital, a program designed to provide instruction for students too gravely ill to attend school. …
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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 Ice Floes
Attribution: Photo by Ekaterina Moroshilova on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in viewing the onset of winter with more than the usual trepidation as he tries not to dwell on vague thoughts of an Eskimo culture that once floated its elderly and infirmed off on ice flows as a means of final …
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Kickass and Leftovers
Attribution: Photo by Gurth Bramall on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be joining the keeper and Phyllis in their efforts at improving relationships with some of the other pack species by viewing the consumption of leftovers as “returning to the kill” in the mode of lions, wolves or hyenas. While there is different terminology …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Frankenstein”
Monsters: Film Review of Frankenstein ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Mary Woolstencraft Shelly’s gothic novel Frankenstein has gone through as many—or more—film iterations than any other horror story, except perhaps the Dracula franchise. Depending on the critical lens being used to examine it, the story can be seen as addressing issues of …
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Kickass and Dead Deer Icy Memory
Attribution: Fabrice Florin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper with a very old memory—70 years or so, of a day matching this one—last day of the deer season and people headed for home from traditional family hunting grounds. The station wagon full of five kids, an …
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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 Snow Angels
Attribution: Photo by Andrey Lear on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be following the keeper’s example and napping through the big snow predicted for the weekend. Fortified by one of Mike’s extravagant Thanksgiving feasts, the keeper and Phyllis will abandon their concerns and complaints about getting old. They will instead fixate on the fact …
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Happy Thanksgiving from The Pen in Hand Blog
Have a safe and happy holiday.
Kickass and Fresh Dear Track
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that for many of his past Thanksgivings the keeper combined family feasting with the Wisconsin deer season. It was an emotional pairing that the keeper loved, and so he was delighted when a fresh dear track showed up on his 5th floor balcony deck. …
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