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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 […]
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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4644: Nellie loves routines, and with her it only takes once to establish a precedent. After she had TPLO surgery on November 1st, to get her bionic left-rear leg, she would get me up three and four times a night to go for walks in the forest. I was happy […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4638: I blindly shot this photo through my legs this morning. I thought about straightening it in my photo program, but I think it’s funnier tilted. As many of you know, Nellie had TPLO surgery on her left rear leg on November 1. That surgery involved removing her cranial cruciate […]
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. […]
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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4620: For my final picture of the year, I’m posting the untouched photo for the cover of the First Edition of my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. That’s a tailless whip scorpion on my face, and my wife, Deb, shot the photo in the Amazon […]
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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4613: My Christmas weekend so far: Deb (wife), Nellie (dog), and I live on a private gravel road in the mountains of Montana. We have three neighbors above us, and the climb to our houses on that road is steep and often icy in the winter. Our two newest neighbors […]
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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4605: Six-and-a-half weeks have passed since Nellie got her new bionic left-rear leg (CCL removed, knee refitted, and a metal plate with six screws installed). Deb and I have one more week of sleeping with her on the pullout couch mattress placed on the great room floor before moving up […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4601: Here’s an old photo I would never post in the summer, because too many of my Bitterroot Valley Montana friends would freak out, thinking the fires were here again. This is the fire of 2000, which at the time was the #1 priority fire in America. Deb’s and my […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4595: My dad, Paul W. Essen, died twelve years ago this week. As anyone who has read my book Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer knows, my father was a born again Christian to the extreme. In fact, he even believed his god wanted him […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4586: As many of you know, Nellie had TPLO surgery on her left-rear leg four weeks ago. She’s doing great, but won’t be fully recovered until sometime in January. Until then, the veterinarian’s instructions are to not let Nellie climb stairs, run, or jump. That means keeping Nellie on a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4583: We are three-and-a-half weeks into the eight-to-twelve weeks of Nellie’s recovery from TPLO surgery on her left rear leg. The worst is over, at least for Nellie. As you can see, much of the hair has grown back on her leg (which had been shaved clean), so she doesn’t […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4575: Nellie is not ready to play with the big stick yet, but yesterday was a significant day in her recovery from TPLO surgery (Doggie Tommy John) on her left rear leg. Early in the morning, Nellie and I traveled to Missoula to get the staples taken out of her […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4570: Ten days have gone by since Nellie’s TPLO surgery (think doggie Tommy John surgery) on her left rear leg, which means that Deb and I have only seventy-four more days of waiting on Nellie paw and foot. Yeah, the novelty of all of us camping out on a mattress […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4569: This is me, looking through the hole in Deb’s and my canoe after a hippo bit through it and lifted us six feet into the air. For the whole story, click here for a video from my college show Around the World in 90 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ChLv0RlsHs&t=4s (Photo taken in […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4563: Nellie’s recovery from TPLO (Doggy Tommy John) surgery on her left-rear leg—Day #2. Nellie is such a trooper! Last night Deb and I slept with Nellie on a mattress on the floor of our great room (something will be doing for the next eight-to-twelve weeks). The mattress is much […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4560: Today is Nellie’s 4th birthday! Well, give or take three months. When Deb and I adopted Nellie, a little over three years ago, she had been a stray. So no one really knows her exact birthday. I chose Halloween for her because she’s a black dog. As I’ve mentioned […]
