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Marty’s photo of the day #4627: Deb and I spent a week during the falls of 2021 and 2022 visiting Montana’s American Prairie. Each time we rented a yurt, and it felt like having our own cabin on the reserve. We skipped 2023, because we didn’t want the place to lose its special feeling. We […]
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 #4611: Earlier this week, Deb, Nellie, and I watched “The Book Club: The Next Chapter” (where the characters travel to Italy). The movie was good, but not great. Mostly Deb and I would take turns blurting out, “We were there!” and Nellie would bark out, “Where are the dogs?” So […]
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 #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 #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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4541: Deb and I have enjoyed two long camping trips into Canada with our dogs. The first was in 2002, when Deb and I took Kate and Annie on a 5,572-mile-long adventure to the very top of Canada, which became part of my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4537: Vancouver Island is supposed to have one of the densest populations of black bears in the world. Last month, Deb and I saw two of them on the island, and our dog, Nellie, swears she saw another one not far from our tent. Even so, for us that’s not […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4514: This tail belongs to a gray whale named Indigo (read on to learn how I know that). While working on my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, Deb and I experienced multiple close-up humpback whale encounters off the coast of Antarctica. The whales would approach […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4513: This past Saturday was our final day on Vancouver Island, and by the time we got around to scheduling a ferry ride out of Nanaimo, only the last ferry had an availability. We had previously found Nanaimo to be a dirty, pedestrian-looking city, so we hung out in the […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4507-4511: Yesterday I wrote about the “best outhouse ever” at a remote campsite on a river that Deb and I found by accident when we got lost following a maze of dirt roads—unnamed on our map—a few miles from the ocean, on the northeastern side of Vancouver Island. Today, I’m […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4504-4506: Thanks to my dog, Nellie, for filling in for me during the past two weeks. Now that Deb, Nellie, and I are back home, I’m taking over my posts again. (Nellie fans don’t fret: she’ll be back again). I’m still sorting through the 1,500 photos I took during the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4503: “Woof everyone! Nellie here. Dad is busy packing, so I’m taking over his post today. Mom and Dad were going to take me all the way to the top of Canada, but that trip got canceled because huge forest fires are blocking our way. Apparently these fires are burning […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4500: In 2002, Deb and I and our dogs, Kate and Annie, traveled to the top of Canada in a 5,572 mile-long adventure that became the North American chapter in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. That trip was as much for our dogs as […]
