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Marty’s photo of the day #4394: While I’m always respectful of animals, sometimes being a wildlife photographer/writer doesn’t go as planned. Over the years, I’ve been stung by the world’s most venomous insect, bitten by a venomous snake, and attacked by a hippo (the hippo bit through the center of Deb’s and my canoe and […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4388-4389: Last week featured a couple of outdoor adventures for Deb, Nellie, and me. Early in the week we had to dodge a charging moose, and yesterday we put out a forest fire. One of the advantages of being “a local” in Montana is that even when the tourists arrive […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4383-4385: These photos are from Deb’s, Nellie’s, and my adventure last night. As we do every evening, we walked the path that follows the perimeter of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. We were on the far side, when this moose burst through the trees and cut onto the path―just in front […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4379: My honey comes home today! Deb and I have been married for thirty-eight years (I was five and she was eight on our wedding day), and since we’re both self-employed we are around each other all the time. Yeah, there are times when some little quirk bothers one or […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4378: The following two paragraphs from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explain this shot: One of our stops included the twelfth-century walled city of La Villa de Castrotorafe. I had spotted the city from the highway and turned onto a dirt road that led […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4356: For the past sixteen years, Earth Day and the surrounding weeks have been the most popular time for presentations of my show, Around the World in 90 Minutes. Mostly I perform at colleges, but since colleges rarely book weekend shows, I try to fill weekends on the road with […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4355: I experienced a bit of anxiety flying home from Syracuse, NY yesterday. I had the afternoon flight, and just before getting on it United Airlines announced that they were going to have to route around a storm, which would extend the flight-time by more than an hour. To make […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4353: Greetings from Cortland, New York! Tonight I perform the last show of my Northeastern United States Tour, at the State University of New York Cortland (SUNY Cortland). The last show of a tour always gives me mixed feelings: I’m sad that the tour will soon be over, but excited […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4346-#4351: One last time: Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ! Yesterday afternoon, I drove back to Asbury Park, so I could see it in the daytime. The fog was starting to burn off, and with it being the off-season, the crowds had yet to arrive. Bruce Springsteen’s songs got me through […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4339-#4345: Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ! (Again) This time I found a proper sign inside The Stone Pony. If you missed yesterday’s post, my next college show is Monday, at the University of Delaware. With a day-and-a-half off between shows, I’m staying at a hotel in Colts Neck, New Jersey […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4338: Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ! Okay, I’ve wanted to say that ever since I became a Bruce Springsteen fan back in high school. But I’m actually here. Earlier today, I performed Around the World in 90 Minutes a little north of here at the Trailside Nature & Science Center […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4322: This is the historic Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia, Kansas. I performed my show, “Around the World in 90 Minutes,” here in 2009. If you look closely, you’ll see a deep orchestra pit in front of the stage. When I perform, I wear a wireless headset microphone and work […]
I’ve come to the conclusion that the absolute worst hell for me would be retiring. Since I started working at WEBC radio in Duluth, at age 13, I’ve always had to do something that felt extraordinary. I left radio at age 20 to become partners in a high-profile Minneapolis talent-management agency; left that agency six […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4306: Now that I have my brand new Ford Maverick truck, Deb, Nellie, and I are planning to head into far north Canada this fall. I took this photo the last time Deb and I made the trip. This is the 362-mile-long Campbell Highway, a gravel road that crosses the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4296: This is the Spanish town of Torrejón el Rubio. Some photos speak for themselves; others need a storyteller. So I’m going to be the storyteller for this one. The following comes from my sixth book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer: By the time […]
Greetings from Chattanooga, Tennessee! I’ve just returned to my hotel room after a delightful dinner with Jeff Strand and his wife, Lynne Hansen. For those who don’t know who Jeff Strand is, he is the master of a fairly obscure genre, called horror/comedy. I write in an equally obscure genre that I call science-fiction/political-comedy, so […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4275: Nellie hurt her left rear leg late last summer. We had the vet look at it, but she couldn’t figure out the problem without sedating Nellie for an X-ray. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious, as the only time it’s noticeable is when she gets up from a […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4269-4272: By some quirk, Chattanooga, Tennessee has become a very special city for me. I have performed “Around the World in 90 Minutes” there four times, and a week from today, I will add a fifth performance with a show at Southern Adventist University. It’s also the only city where […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4259-4262: We could have a baby moose at the Essen Wildlife Refuge this spring! Every morning my dog, Nellie, enters my writing room and stares at me until I take her outside to play. Yesterday morning we followed our usual routine. In addition to playing ball, Nellie thoroughly sniffs and […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4258: I know some followers of my posts cringe whenever I post snakes or other animals that don’t fit into the “warm and cuddly” category. But I’m a college speaker and author largely because I’m a wildlife advocate. All animals have value, and that includes snakes. Snakes, for instance, are […]
