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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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4256: This is Annie. And yes, her jump was successful! She was an adoptee from an animal shelter. I still remember the day Deb and I brought her home. Annie was approximately two years old, nervous, and unsure of herself. The hallway to our bedroom overlooks the great room. It’s […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4255: This short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explains the shot: I flicked on my flashlight. “Deb! It’s a Belizean fangs-o-death!” “Let me see. Wow, it’s amazingly similar to the orb weaver spiders in Belize. But its body isn’t as colorful or […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4251-4254: Many years ago, I started going on early morning bike rides to stay in shape. My ride is roughly four miles, which isn’t far, but since I do it on a steep mountain road, often in the snow, it does the job. I quite literally wore out the drive […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4250: Recently, I’ve been featuring a lot of photos from Deb’s and my epic adventure to the top of Canada, because I discovered some photo files on CD that I had unknowingly deleted from my computer years ago. This one, taken somewhere in Alberta, got me all choked up, as […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4243: Sometimes even sweet Nellie can be a bad girl. Because we live on 25 acres of protected mountain forest (affectionately called the Essen Wildlife Refuge), we have mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, porcupines, skunks, and other animals around that Nellie shouldn’t mess with. And the only safe way for her […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4238: I shot this photo from the co-pilot’s seat of a tiny airplane (called a Helio), heading north over the Brooks Range, on the way to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This short excerpt, from my second book, Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4233: When I perform my college show, Around the World in 90 Minutes, I talk about how important it is to keep the arctic natural. Then, while showing a wide photo of the tundra, I mention that the oil companies and the politicians that work for them frequently call the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4230: Via both my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, and my college show, Around the World in 90 Minutes, the hippo attack Deb and I survived on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe (the hippo bit through the center of our canoe and lifted us six […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4227: So yesterday’s photo of the day generated some unexpected controversy. That photo featured me holding a baby pygmy marmoset that a 9-year-old Yagua girl from a tiny village in the Amazon Rainforest had rescued after its mother died (the cause of death for the mother is unknown, but likely […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4216: I shot this photo from the best campsite of Deb’s and my adventure to the top of Canada and back. This short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, tells the story: The rest of our afternoon was uneventful—if you can call driving […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4215: Somehow, through the years, the file containing all the Sony Mavica photos from Deb’s and my 2002 adventure to the top of Canada disappeared from my computers. That old digital camera recorded onto mini-CDs. Even by today’s standards that camera took great still and macro photos (but lousy photos […]
