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3,000 miles without a bathroom

3,000 miles without a bathroom

Marty’s photo of the day #4732: Four years ago, this week, Donald Trump was busy fucking up the United States’ response to COVID-19, killing hundreds of thousands of people. All my in-person college speaking gigs were cancelled accept one: Eastern Arizona College. After the college assured me that everyone in the audience would be masked, […]

Day #2 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days

Day #2 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days

Day #2 of Seven Marty Essen Books in Seven Days, featured in order of publication. We continue with the four-time award-winning Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico. “Join photographer extraordinaire Marty Essen and his intrepid wife Deb on their adventures through four Endangered Edens. You’ll be […]

Keep-away

Keep-away

Marty’s photo of the day #4670: Now that Nellie’s bionic left-rear leg is totally healed, we are back to all our old pre-surgery routines. One of those routines is a vigorous game of keep-away each morning, where Nellie will grab a stick and run at me full speed, only to dodge my grasp for the […]

Hippos, the second day

Hippos, the second day

Marty’s photo of the day #4659: As anyone who has read my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, or seen my college show, Around the World in 90 Minutes, knows, my wife, Deb, and I were attacked by a hippo on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. The hippo literally bit through […]

Nellie is back!

Nellie is back!

Marty’s photo of the day #4653: Nellie is back! As many of you know, Nellie had TPLO surgery on her left rear leg on November 1. That surgery involved removing her cranial cruciate ligament, refitting the bone in her knee, and holding everything together with a metal plate and six screws. It’s her “bionic leg.” […]

The Memory Rock

The Memory Rock

Marty’s photo of the day #4651: This photo, from late October 2020, brings back a lot of memories for me. The COVID-19 pandemic was still in the Trumpy stage, and I got booked to present my show, “Around the World in 90 Minutes,” at Eastern Arizona College. Most of my other college gigs had been […]

Magic at 3:00 a.m.

Magic at 3:00 a.m.

Marty’s photo of the day #4648: The expedition to Antarctica Deb and I did many years ago for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, was absolutely magical. We’ve discussed doing it again, but we know that trying to recreate magic like that seldom works. Then, this week, we learned that […]

Marc-André Fleury

Marc-André Fleury

Marty’s photo of the day #4635: It was so much fun watching Marc-André Fleury become the second winningest goalie in NHL history last night, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 5 to 0 shutout of the New York Islanders. Pulling for Fleury is so much better than pulling for assholes, such as football’s Aaron Rodgers. […]

Kate, raccoon!

Kate, raccoon!

Marty’s photo of the day #4634: This old photo, shot directly behind Deb’s and my house, will always make me think of our late golden retriever, Kate. She was the first to spot the raccoon, and for years afterward we could call out, “Kate, raccoon!” and she’d look in the same tree. Admittedly, I often […]

Nellie’s X-rays

Nellie’s X-rays

Marty’s photos of the day #4617-4618: Yesterday Nellie had her final appointment with the surgeon who created her bionic left-rear leg. What you are looking at are two X-rays from that appointment. The first photo shows a view of five of the six screws inserted into Nellie’s leg. TPLO surgery (Doggie Tommy John) involves removing […]

Nellie’s bionic leg update

Nellie’s bionic leg update

Marty’s photo of the day #4610: Seven-and-a-half weeks have passed since Nellie got her new bionic left-rear leg (TPLO surgery to remove a ligament, reshape/refit the bone, and install a metal plate with 6 screws). Nellie’s recovery is coming along on schedule. She doesn’t limp anymore when outside, but still limps sometimes inside—especially after a […]