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Marty’s photo of the day #5118: Nellie’s recovery from getting her second bionic rear leg will take at least 8 weeks, so I must restrict her to leash walks to keep her from engaging warp drive too early. Because of that, we are covering every inch of the 25-acre Essen Wildlife Refuge. And since Nellie […]
One of Nellie’s jobs is to protect my red writing chair when I’m not in it. Few people understand how important a chair can be to an author. I bought this chair more than 20 years ago. It’s not a high-quality chair, and it was never intended to be the chair I wrote 10 books […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5108: It’s been three weeks since my dog, Nellie, got her second bionic rear leg (TPLO surgery with a metal plate and six screws), and she is recovering much faster than the first time. She has to stay on leash for eight weeks, and this morning she practically dragged me […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5097: For the second day in a row, Nellie gets credit for my photo of the day. Until her new bionic leg heals, she is restricted to leash walks, and it was during a leash walk yesterday through the Essen Wildlife Refuge that we spotted this nighthawk. The nighthawk immediately […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5096: My dog, Nellie, has amazing senses. She gets credit for this shot. It was well after sunset when we stepped out onto the front porch. Immediately she knew something was sleeping among the trees a hundred feet straight out from us. I couldn’t tell what it was, so I […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5087: This is a Borneo pygmy elephant. It is a unique, genetically distinct subspecies of the Asian elephant, about 20% smaller than mainland Asian elephants, reaching a height of roughly 9 feet. (Photographed on the island of Borneo.)
Marty’s photo of the day #5054: This is Deb and me, laughing after canoeing down the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe and being attacked by a hippo. The hippo bit through the middle of our canoe, lifted us six feet into the air, and dumped us on the muddy riverbank. Deb ended up black-and-blue all along […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5050: I appreciate and use the latest technology for many things in my life. But sometimes technology leads us backwards. For instance, while now many people forgo stereo systems to listen to their music with earbuds or a tiny Bluetooth speaker, they miss so much compared to what they’d hear […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5033: I rarely shoot people photos, but in this instance, I couldn’t resist. Deb and I were in New Guinea, visiting a tiny village. We walked over to the school, where the children—all dressed up—stood outside and sang a song for us. That’s when I spotted this boy, off to […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5026: Deb, Nellie, and I visited the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge last night—enjoying pizza and beer by one of the big ponds and then heading over to the area where dogs are allowed. After Nellie enjoyed her walk and swim in the shallows at the edge of the Bitterroot […]
For all my book reader friends out there, I have a question for you. Suppose the protagonist in the novel you are reading is in a car, trying to escape the villain. He/she is racing down a country road and must slam on the brakes to narrowly avoid hitting something (a dog, a dead-end sign, […]
This moose has been hanging out at the Essen Wildlife Refuge for at least three days. Last night, I took our dog, Nellie, outside for a final pee before going to bed. While she did that, I went into the garage to look for some gloves for my wife. I was in the garage for […]
The date was November 29, 1978. My best friend, Reid, and I were huge Bruce Springsteen fans. We were both going to Duluth East High School and had very little money (I was working at WEBC radio for $2.65 an hour, and Reid made about the same somewhere else). Somehow we got tickets for Springsteen’s […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5021: In 2004, Deb and I backpacked 53 miles across Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. We saw quite a few chacma baboons (the largest baboon species). For this photo, the baboon was a little beyond the effective range of my zoom lens, making it a good subject for my […]
Writing quality sequels of unique, non-genre books is hard. One of my favorite novels is “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger. In 2013, she announced that she was working on a sequel that would be ready in 2018. Later, she changed the date to 2023, and the most recent update states October 2026. For […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5020: Exploring the Everglades was the only adventure in my nonfiction books where my wife didn’t accompany me. I was on a college speaking tour in Florida and scheduled multiple days off for exploring. Because I had to pack all my college speaking gear, the only camera I had room […]
Humans have created thousands of gods/religions throughout history, each believing theirs is the one true god/religion and that all the others are delusions. Since both ancient and current history has proven the three major Middle Eastern religions incapable of peaceful coexistence, if a person must practice a religion, why not try a different one from […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5018: In 2002, Deb and I drove all the way to the top of Canada and caught the great Porcupine caribou migration (the longest land migration on Earth). The caribou passed by us in waves, and we hiked with them for a while. Unfortunately, something broke inside the zoom lens […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5017: When Deb and I look back on all the adventures we’ve had around the world and pick favorites, our 2014 Costa Rica trip is always near the top of our list. Who knows? We may go back there some day. My photography on that trip was largely successful, partially […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5016: Deb and I were on a 53-mile-long backpacking trip through Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe when I photographed this African grey hornbill. The year was 2004, and because of 2 flights on rickety little bush planes, we had a total weight limit of 26 pounds per person (including […]
