Let's Talk with Mark & Michelle

Michelle and I once again traveled to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We love to see the wildlife and gorgeous scenery. And we saw it all again, including a too close for comfort encounter with a mother grizzly and her two cubs while fishing in the Yellowstone's Lamar Valley. Michelle calls it the most terrifying thing in her life. This podcast is about our bear scare and what we learned from it. We also share some beautiful scenery and Michelle's fly fishing adventures. Enjoy.

Whether you buy or sell a home, the home inspection is part of the process. It's definitely a must. Here's what goes into a home inspection.

It may be winter but the weather feels like spring. It's a great time to start preparing your house to sell. 

Michelle is a realtor with nearly 25 years experience. In this podcast, she has some things to think about if you're planning on putting your home on the market soon. 

What's the "in" paint color this year? How do you keep celery fresh in the refrigerator for a month? Just a couple ideas you'll learn in this episode. Michelle and I talk with interior designer Julia Kirkendall and restaurant owner and chef Nancy Bruce. We're on location at Studio by K/D in Tulsa. Kirkendall's new venue offers "a broad range of interactive workshops and nature-inspired experiences, while also imparting invaluable knowledge on living life to its utmost potential." Many of those interactive workshops include cooking demonstrations by Bruce who owns Lambrusco'z Deli. Today she gives us some helpful but simple food tips while making french onion soup. And Kirkendall shows us around her beautiful new design studio.

What's best? Crispy or chewy chocolate chip cookies? Michelle and I have a debate. She likes cookies that are gooey and chewy and I like them crispy. I baked some crispy cookies recently and Michelle challenged me to make ones she likes. So I did. But we needed an impartial judge. We found one. Our 8 month old grandson Jack was hanging out with us for a few days while his parents were on vacation. Perfect!

What are two favorite gifts on Valentine's Day? Diamonds and chocolates. We talk to a jeweler about the hottest gift this year and tour a chocolate factory.

Michelle and I usually hike in our national parks in the summer and fall. As we ended 2023 and began the new year we visited Estes Park, Colorado and nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. Hiking in the winter brings on a different set of challenges, namely the weather. It's cold and icy and snowy. But if you love to hike and explore, you make it work. We hiked up to Dream Lake, and later to Emerald Lake, which are around 10,000 feet elevation in the Rockies. And this time of year, all the lakes are frozen.  Our hike there and beyond to Sky Pond a few summers ago, when temps were in the 90's, was one of our hardest hikes ever. But boy it was sure beautiful! Would it be just a beautiful in the dead of winter?  We also run down our top 5 toughest hikes over the years. The hike to Sky Pond is definitely one of them. What other hikes are on our list? Come along on our adventure to find out.

Michelle has loved to fish practically her entire life. Only recently has she picked up fly fishing. And she's hooked! Every time we go to either Glacier or Grand Teton National Parks she packs her fishing gear with her, an Orvis rod and Simms waders and boots. Once again this summer we booked a guided trip down the Snake River in Jackson Hole, with the help of our friend Tom O'Brien. He set us up with Chip Hodlmair of Westbank Anglers. Just like her other fishing trips, Michelle had one goal: catch just one fish. In this case, the famous Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout. And as always, it was quite the adventure.

The entire world is watching what's going on with Israel and Hamas right now. But do we really understand what led up to this war? And what's it like to be Israeli and to be constantly defending yourself from hate and rockets? In this episode I talk with Avner Boskey who lives in the Beersheba region of Israel and oversees Final Frontier Ministries. It's a fascinating, informative and disturbing conversation about life in Israel with enemies at every border, and rockets aimed and often fired at their homes. I ask Avner how far his home is from Gaza. His reply surprised and astounded me. He tells me they measure distance in Israel not in miles, but how long it takes a rocket to reach them from Gaza. For Avner and his family, Gaza is 62 seconds away! 

What's it like to fish with a professional fisherman? Michelle and I met recently with Fred Roumbanis on Oklahoma's Lake Tenkiller to fish for small and large mouth bass. "Boom Boom" as he's called,  is on the Major League Fishing circuit. I shot Michelle and Fred fishing for a November segment on American Dream TV, and we made this podcast out of it.