Marty Essen's Blog, page 280
July 11, 2018
Flooded Amazon Rainforest
Marty’s photo of the day #2593: I have visited the Amazon Rainforest of Peru twice: once during the dry season and once during the rainy season. I took this photo from my kayak during the rainy season. I’m not on any river, just a frequently flooded section of rainforest. If I took a photograph from this same location in the dry season, I would be on solid ground.
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July 10, 2018
Wandering albatross
Marty’s photo of the day #2592: I will let a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explain this shot:
Even though we were hundreds of miles away from any significant landmass, our Drake Passage voyage was never boring. I spent much of my time outside on the bow enjoying the crisp Antarctic air and photographing the wandering albatrosses. Beautiful slender white birds with black and white wings, wandering albatrosses belong to the order Procellariiformes. The descriptive name for birds in this order (which also includes petrels, prions, and shearwaters) is tubenose, and it comes from their ability to drink ocean water and excrete the salt through the tubular nostrils on their upper bills.
Wandering albatrosses are impressive creatures with wingspans up to eleven feet—the widest of any bird. Imagine one flying a short distance overhead. On land it might look like a pterodactyl swooping down to carry you off, but on the ocean there’s nothing for size comparison, and you have to remind yourself just how big the bird really is.
As masters of riding the wind currents, wandering albatrosses seldom need to flap their wings. With just a dip of the head or a subtle tilt of tail feathers, they could adjust their flight to keep even with the ship. Sometimes they’d glide in close, and I’d gaze into their shiny black eyes and feel as if I were flying myself.
Wandering albatrosses spend the majority of their lives at sea. When young, they may go five or more years without touching land. When mature, they come ashore on a two-year breeding cycle and lay one egg each time.
Sadly, these great birds are a “vulnerable species” (as classified by the IUCN), with fewer than twenty thousand breeding pairs remaining in the world. Their population is declining because their slow reproduction rate can’t compensate for the 10 percent that perish each year trying to scavenge bait from the longlines of commercial fishing boats. Although albatrosses have the entire ocean at their disposal, they seem to prefer the company of ships. Theories for their attraction include curiosity, air currents, and easy access to food churned up in wakes. Whatever the reason, I never would have suspected they were in peril, as one or more were usually gliding nearby.
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July 9, 2018
What you always wanted to know about Iquitos
Marty’s photo of the day #2592: Today’s photo certainly isn’t the prettiest one I’ve posted, but it provides the answer to a question that’s difficult to answer without local help: What do the rooftops look like in Iquitos, Peru? Luckily, Deb and I befriended a motorcar taxi driver, who took us to the parent’s house of his dead friend, and they invited us up on their rooftop to see for ourselves. Yes, when you visit a foreign country, it’s always good to make the effort to get to know the local people.
This is the poor section of Iquitos because the houses are on the bank of the Amazon River, and therefore subject to annual flooding.
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July 8, 2018
The Republicans actually raffled this off
Marty’s photo of the day #2591: Yesterday I went to the Farmer’s Market and stopped at the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee booth to photograph the assault rifle they were raffling off. I approached as if I were one of their cult, and even got this lady to hold up the gun for me. I’m sure their raffle will be a huge success, because here in one of Montana’s most far-right counties, microphallic compensation tools are in demand.
I don’t know much about guns, but I know that when someone asserts that assault rifles are for hunting, they do so with a wink. With that in mind, I’d like to ask the RCRCC: If the winner of your raffle uses the gun to shoot-up a school, a concert, or an abortion clinic, will your leaders adhere to your “party of personal responsibility” slogan and plead guilty as accessories?
What am I saying? Republicans have already made their feelings clear by how they reacted to past domestic terrorist attacks: 1) They think guns are more important than human lives. 2) They eliminate responsibility and guilt by tossing out a few thoughts and prayers. 3) They head to the gun store and buy, buy, buy!
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July 7, 2018
Martyman and the great banana bread adventure, part 2
Martyman declares victory! Things got a bit messy, but he successfully baked his first loaf of banana bread. It was touch and go there for a while—especially after he forgot to add the eggs.
If you missed my initial post on this, Martyman had to pull the hot pan out of the oven, pour the dough back in the bowl, and remix with the eggs he had forgotten about. But maybe he’s onto something. The bread turned out delicious and extra tender.
Now I’ve got to stop him from eating too much and getting sick. It’s amazing how many pieces of banana bread an action figure can fit into that little hollow body.
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Martyman and the great banana bread adventure
I’m pretty much the Anti-cook. Luckily when my lovely wife, Deb, leaves Martyman and me home alone, she also leaves us with a big pot of soup. Or, as is the case this week (she’s at the Convergence Conference in Reno), she left us a giant bowl of crab salad. Unfortunately, five days of crab salad can get a little tiring.
This afternoon, Martyman revolted and declared, “We’re having banana bread for dinner tonight!”
“Okay,” I said, “as long as you make it.”
Long story short: Things were going just fine until Martyman turned the mixer on too high. Then, once the bread was in the oven, I helped with the cleanup and realized there were no egg shells in the sink.
“Doesn’t the recipe call for two eggs?” I asked.
“Oh, shit!” Martyman screamed. He pulled the hot pan out of the oven, added the eggs, and mixed too fast again. I hope Deb doesn’t look at the ceiling when she gets back.
God only knows what we’ll have when Martyman pulls the loaf out of the oven thirty minutes from now. We’ll report back after dinner.
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Hummingbird Moth
Marty’s photo of the day #2590: This is a hummingbird moth, photographed near my house several years ago.
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July 6, 2018
Relaxing with an octopus
Marty’s photo of the day #2589: Don’t mind me. I’m just relaxing on the floor of the Sea of Cortez with an octopus on my feet. Hmm . . . has the octopus fallen asleep?
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July 5, 2018
Pacific loon
Marty’s photo of the day #2588: This is a Pacific loon, photographed on a stream that was just about to dump into Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
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July 4, 2018
From North America’s beacon of freedom on Independence Day
Marty’s photo of the day #2588: With today being Independence Day, Americans turn to thoughts of freedom: freedom of the press, freedom to not be shot, freedom from being embarrassed by the head of your country, freedom from misspelled presidential tweets, freedom to believe in science, freedom from Putin, freedom from the cone of silence, freedom from government-endorsed bigotry, freedom from childish spats with other countries, freedom from a hate-filled global-warming-denying television network that doubles as presidential adviser, freedom from a political party that loves guns more than children, freedom from a political party that wants nothing more than to take away women’s reproductive rights, and even freedom to smoke a little weed if that’s your thing. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this photo I took in North America’s beacon of freedom—Canada.
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