Martin L Martens
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mlmartens.bsky.social
Martin L Martens
@mlmartens.bsky.social
3.2K followers 2.9K following 570 posts
Activist Insurgent, Retired Professor Dept of Management & Law, Vancouver Island U., Ground SAR Team Lead, Medic, Tracker, Rope Tech, and Instructor. Ski Patrol in the winter. S'uqsun, Xwkwa’luxwum, Vancouver Island

Also @mlmartens@mastodon.social
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mlmartens.bsky.social
It's safe to conclude that these two like each other. #Caturday #CatsofBlueSky
Two cats are contentedly sleeping together on a blue mattress. A gray tabby cat is in front, laying on his side with his front legs out in front of him. A black and white tuxedo cat is laying behind the tabby and has his front paws on the tabby's side. Their heads are snuggled together.
November 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
My home office chair is occupied. No work today. #Caturday
A gray tabby cat and a black and white tuxedo cat are laying together on a colourful towel that is on the seat of a chair.
November 1, 2025 at 5:19 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Wind turbines are way down the list of causes of bat mortality.
October 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
The ski patrol building at Mt Cain provides a setting for the first major snowfall on Vancouver Island last weekend. Mt Cain is a small community-run ski hill in northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The backcountry there is amazing but you better be prepared.
A red building front sits in a snow covered field with a backdrop of snow covered fir trees behind it. The building has a ski patrol sign above the double glass entrance doors. There is a pair of old wooden skis in the upper right side of the building, above a pair of tall glass windows. A yellow sign in a window that says: Danger, you are leaving the ski resort. You can die. This is your decision. There is a skull and crossbones symbol in the middle bottom.
October 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
These little guys are about 2-3cm high. #FungiFriday
October 25, 2025 at 2:42 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Is there a Tomato Thursday? This was the last good tomato from my garden this year.
October 24, 2025 at 3:20 AM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Right now? Hiking up a mountain trail during a search and rescue practice training evening.
The photo is taken on the side of a mountain trail, looking down on farmland, a small town, an ocean straight, with mountains off in the distance. The middle ground is for trees, lit up by the sun.
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
mlmartens.bsky.social
I was there. It was pretty cool to hear him sing Harvest Moon while the moon was rising above the trees.
A red lit sage on the right, a large audience in a dark park, a bright moon rising above trees in the center.
September 9, 2025 at 6:56 AM
mlmartens.bsky.social
I used to be a regional coordinator for Australian Terrier Rescue.

Australian Terriers are wonderful smaller dogs ( usually around 20lbs)
The photo is of a Australian Terrier laying on a carpet. Text is "Arti is a 5-year-old neutered male pup in Washington state, in need of a new home. He is a sensitive soul and would do best in a quiet setting with someone who stays at home. He was injured early in his life, though it hasn't changed his attitude, but perhaps made him more nervous. He does best with routine and a strict diet. He has worked with a trainer to increase his confidence and knows basic commands. His owner is reluctantly surrendering him for personal reasons. If you are interested in Arti, please contact acterrier@aol.com for more details."
September 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
It's that time of the year. The garden is producing a lot this year. This is today's output.

#gardens #gardening
A few dark green peppers sit in top of dozens of different kinds and colours of tomatoes. Mostly red cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, a few red Roma tomatoes underneath the peppers.
September 1, 2025 at 6:04 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
August 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Catio Cats lounging on their their chairs.

#caturday #CatsofBlueSky
Two cats laying on top of brown seat covers that are on the seats of two red plastic lawn chairs. There is one cat on each chair. On the right is a black and white tuxedo cat, on the left is a grey/brown tabby cat. The chairs are angled slightly inward, giving the cats and chairs somewhat of a mirror image. In the background is a sun dappled maple tree with large gree leaves.
August 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
The fire is now almost 900 hectares and growing. Power is out in villages down wind, the dirt road is closed.

#bcwildfire
This is a photo from an airplane, looking down on a fire on the side of a mountain. The right side of the photo shows water from an ocean inlet, the center and left are mountains and forest. In the middle is a small mountain, with dark smoke emerging from the right flank of the mountain. The smoke is being blow toward the top of the photo and spreads out, creating a haze in the distance with some mountain tops showing in places.
August 12, 2025 at 7:31 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
The fire south of Port Alberni expanded from 50 hectares to 630 hectares in a couple of hours. The massive amount of smoke from the fire is down the coast to Oregon this morning.

wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/incidents?fi...

#BritishColumbia #BCWildfire
Dark smoke billows up from a large fire burning on the side of a mountain. A line of fire is visible in the center of the photo, running up the flank of the moutain side. This is a satellite image of the west coast of North America, showing Vancouver Island at the top and the coast of Washington and Oregon. White streaks of smoke wisp down from Vancouver Island. A smaller smokey area is visibile in the center from a fire in western Washington.
August 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Some good news, the #WesleyRidge wildfire status has been changed to being held and not expected to expand.

#VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia

wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/incidents?fi...
A wildfire firefighter is stepping through a burned area, holding a hose and aiming a water spray toward the ground. There is smoke in various spots on the ground in front of her. There are burned tree trunks around her with unburned evergreen trees off to the left.
August 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Quinsam and Skeena are enjoying #Caturday on a catio that undergoing repairs and renovations.
The photo is looking up at a black and white tuxedo cat is sitting beside a grey tabby cat who is laying down. They are on the edge of a deck. Both cats are looking to the right.
August 9, 2025 at 11:58 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Current satellite photos show smoke from the Wesley Ridge wildfire can be seen expanding north from central Vancouver Island, up the British Columbia south coast and inlets.
A satellite photo shows smoke from a wildfire. The smoke starts at the bottom middle, expanding up the photo, across a ocean straight, the broadening as it hits land and mountains on the other side of the straight.
August 3, 2025 at 5:07 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
The fire has gone over the ridge and is now creeping down the northeast side, toward homes in a neighbourhood called Meadowoods.
A couple of vehicles are parked in a gravel parking lot. In the background, smoke billows up from a mountain ridge in multiple locations.
August 3, 2025 at 4:56 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Is it #caturday?
A black and white tuxedo cat sits on the edge of a deck, looking down, a grey tabby cat is beside the other cat, only his head visible, looking over the edge, one ear slightly pulled back.
August 2, 2025 at 2:50 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Threee local SAR teams are going property to property in the area to deal with the evacuation orders that cover both sides of the mountain ridge.

wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/incidents?fi...
A photo from an airplane, looking down on a lake and forest. Smoke is visible across the middle in a forest with wildfire flames visible in the center. The photo shows a wildfire on a mountain ridge beside the lake.
August 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
This is a photo (shared from FB) of the Wesley Ridge fire on Vancouver Island, at Cameron Lake, west of Qualicum Beach. It's 21km from my house and I can see the smoke during the day and flames at night. Like every fire on Vancouver Island this year (so far), it's human caused. #VancouverIsland
This image shows a forest fire on a step mountain ridge. It's a night photo, with orange flames in spots across the photo. The left side has a line of fire running vertically up most of the photo. Outlines of trees in the foreground with a lake visible across the bottom third.
August 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Nothing much seems to be happening in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the waves should have started an hour ago.
A plaza beside an ocean bay. There is a spire in the centre, trees at the lower left, roads on the lower right. People standing around the edge of the plaza where a walkway runs along the ocean side.
July 30, 2025 at 1:18 AM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Skeena's annoyed that I didn't post a photo on #caturday #CatsOfBlueSky
The head of a grey tabby cat is partially sticking above the edge of a blanket covered footrest. The cat has its right ear pulled back slightly. The cat looks annoyed. The background is a dark brown door of a wood furniture.
July 27, 2025 at 3:49 PM
mlmartens.bsky.social
Mid-July high alpine wildflowers on the west end of the Tom Taylor Glacier in Strathcona Park, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
#wildflowers #flowers #BritishColumbia
Red spiked flowers scattered around the lower left and bottom lead down a ravine of large bare boulders toward a frozen lake and a snow-covered high alpine mountain ridge in the upper background. The sun has just risen above the mountain ridge.
July 23, 2025 at 4:22 AM
mlmartens.bsky.social
I've had to evacuate my home once. (Hurricane Iniki, 1992). It was an absolutely sickening feeling leaving with the expectation that it would not be there after the hurricane went through. It was briefly a Cat 5 hurricane headed directly at Oahu for a bit of time.
Have you ever had to evacuate your home due to severe weather such as a tornado, hurricane, wildfire, or flood? All adults Yes 18% No 80% Not sure 2%
July 14, 2025 at 3:49 AM