A little fun and a little prep

This weekend is the 3rd Annual Sitka Seafood Festival. We've posted about SSF before, but it's so neat to see how this community event continues to gain momentum and support from all of SE Alaska. There was a parade this morning, followed by merchants of every variety and food ranging from fry bread to Filipino. There were event competitions, including a cake contest, a "Sitka Signature Dish" contest, fish head toss, fish head bobbing, tote races, and more. After checking out all the wonderful vendors and activities, we took a tour of the USCGC Maple, the largest buoy tender in the Coast Guard, which is stationed here in Sitka.  This year a Highland Games event was added to the festivities, so Stephen & Porter went in style. (I apologize for the poor picture quality, I didn't think to bring a better camera than my iPhone.)

Stephen says this is the first time he was out-shined at a Highland event--Porter definitely turned some heads.

Men's caber toss

The Pub was among the food vendors. Here you can see them cooking up whole fresh-off-the-boat dungeoness crab, corn on the cob, and potatoes right on the lawn for $15/meal.

Live local musicians kept the party going. (To the right, out of this shot, was the BIBCO beer tent.)

Sheaf toss

Highland dancers

City of Juneau Pipe Band (How cool is their logo‽)

Porter was completely enthralled with the bass drum.

Women's stone throw

All of the athletic events were held on the lawn of the former Sheldon Jackson campus (now the Sitka Fine Arts Camp), which is currently undergoing massive remodeling and restoration. This being the first year we've had Highland events in Sitka, most of the athletes were first-timers as well. The community was very supportive, though, and we expect this event to grow in future years.

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In other news, Seren and I will be flying to Anchorage this week for a minor surgical procedure on her eye.

Seren, like me, was born with clogged tear ducts, a condition which doesn't affect eyesight or ability in any way, it just gets a little messy from time to time. Because of the blockage, the lacrimal sac produces more fluid in an attempt to push the blockage out and her eyes tend to look runny or mucusy most of the time. In my case, the blockages naturally cleared from both eyes when I was about 4 years old. However, Seren was not so lucky. The blockage in her left eye cleared naturally, but her right tear ducts still have a blockage somewhere between the lacrimal sac and the nasal passage.

This image borrowed from the Children's Hospital Colorado website

In the image above, you can see that you have two tear ducts, one on the upper part of the eyelid and one on the lower part of the eyelid, in the corner of each eye. These ducts run down the side of your nose, where they connect with the sinus cavity beneath the cheek bone and (eventually) the nostrils.

Seren's procedure will require full anesthesia because of the delicate work that has to be done, but it's actually a very simple and straightforward solution. First, her tear ducts will be flushed with saline. Then, a very thin tube will be placed in both tear ducts in her right eye. The middle of the tube will only barely be visible in the corner of her eye and will be completely painless. Both ends of the tube will run down the nasolacrimal duct and be stitched together with one dissolving stitch to the inside of her nostril. Even though this is considered a surgical procedure, there will be no cutting involved. The tube simply keeps the ducts open enough that they can heal properly after the blockage is removed by the fluid flush. After about a month or so, the stitch inside her nostril will dissolve and the tube can then be pulled out painlessly.

Our normal healthcare is provided by SEARHC, here in Sitka, but they do not have specialist facilities that handle this type of procedure, so we will be flown to Anchorage on August 14th, where she will be seen and treated at Alaska Native Medical Center on the 15th (pre-op), 16th (surgery), & 17th (post-op), and we will fly home on the 18th. We have housing arranged for us on the medical campus, which will make everything much easier to deal with. I am so very grateful that all of this - flights, procedure, & housing - are being paid for by the Oklahoma Cherokee tribe. Without them, we surely would not be able to afford the cost on our own.

I don't want any of you to think that we are worried about any of this at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Stephen & I are excited for Seren to have this cleared up and Seren is excited to be able to do all the things she loves without having to worry so much about keeping her eye dry and clean. We consider this event to be just another part of our adventures together as a family and, as such, I will be taking pictures whenever the opportunity presents throughout this trip and updating you guys from here, in the blog. So stay tuned and leave your words of encouragement and support in the comments. I know Seren will love reading them.

Porter's Traveling Harmonica Show

I was about to upload this video to Facebook, but then I decided it was worthy of its own blog post. It's less than a minute long, but here are some things to watch for:

• Continued blowing minus the harmonica
• A brief, yet incomprehensible mid-song introduction by the artist
• An up-turned chair
• Exit over the back of the couch

In other news, we went to a going away party for the niece of Sitka's favorite watercolor artist, Keith Greba, on Saturday. Ashleigh is going to college in Georgia and spent this summer in Sitka, working at Sea Life Discovery Tours, learning to paint under Keith's instruction, helping Keith stage his house for sale (which sold in under an hour of listing!), and occasionally coming upstairs to visit with me at work.

While we were at Keith's place, though, Porter was sitting in a folding camp chair on the deck out back and one of the legs of the chair fell off of the 12" deck, landing Porter on a pile of rocks with the chair on top of him. At first glance, he was fine, if not a little shocked by the fall, with only a bitten tongue. After a few moments, another person pointed out that there was blood on Porter's forehead. Sure enough, there was a 1/4" long puncture wound in his head, presumably from the chair falling on top of him. Stephen took him inside and cleaned him up and we put some ice on his head for swelling. There wasn't much blood and I wasn't all that worried, but we decided to leave the party early and take him to the doc for a once-over, bracing ourselves for this trip to include a couple of stitches.

If I haven't said it enough already, I absolutely love the doctors out here. I called ahead to the emergency room and they ordered Porter's chart while I was on the phone. Then, I went directly into the emergency room and announced my presence. The records clerk dropped off Porter's chart right after me and I was asked if I checked in up front. No, I didn't, but the nurse called up front and checked us in so we wouldn't have to backtrack. Within about 2 minutes, we were sitting on a bed and a nurse was fetching some baby shampoo and wet gauze to clean the wound. The longest part of our visit was waiting for the doctor to arrive, as he was on-call from another department (presumably Maternity, since all of our OBs are family practice doctors). He asked me what happened, checked Porter over in a thorough-yet-casual manner, and commented on how charming he is. The doc then told me that the cut was not in a place that warranted concern about scarring, that head-wounds rarely see infection, but to keep it clean and dry and go on as normal. The only reversal he had on this opinion was that I was to call him if Porter started vomiting. That was it--a quick swab with Bacitracin and a shiny new bottle of ibuprofen, and we were on our way home.

Keith and his wife, Martha, were both very concerned for Porter and have kept up with his healing progress over the last few days. Porter, on the other hand, has not shown the slightest bit of concern for his head since about 15 minutes after the accident took place and he and his sister are back to rough-housing as normal.

Independence Day weekend in Sitka - pictures ahoy!

If there's one thing Sitka knows how to do well, it's to throw a big celebration and party. This time around, we got to enjoy our first July 4 parade in Sitka as well as Seren's first time ever marching in a parade! There are plenty of pictures here, so I'll just do the rest of my writing as captions. Be sure to make it all the way to the end, even if you don't study every picture or read every caption.

We attended the July 4th booths at Baranof Elementary School on two different days (they were open from Friday through Monday). In addition to fry bread, hot dogs, Filipino food (mmmm), and other "carnival" food, there were booths raising money for a few local organisations through games. We worked the booth for the preschool/child care center we've used this year and the kids got to play on the playground a bit.

Saturday night, fireworks started at 11:30. The neat thing about Sitka's geography is that we have two islands separated by an ocean channel and almost all of the population lives on Baranof Island. This means that the fireworks can be shot off of Japonski Island and people can congregate almost anywhere they want on Baranof (or the bridge) for great views and awesome echos. We chose a spot at Totem Square downtown and were treated to some spectacular reflections as well as a bar fight!

Sunday morning, our friend Cassidy invited us over for brunch on his liveaboard boat (we suspect he's lonely with Stefanie away at school stuff). Kids don't float.

...but Porter does look cute lounging on the back deck!

Seren got chilly, so she borrowed one of Cassidy's sweaters. She looked like she belonged in a Dana Carvey/Kevin Nealon sketch.

The kid has freckles!

Due to me deleting the picture of Seren in the parade, this is the best it gets, so you get two pictures of her and her bike all decked out. She had a great time participating in her first parade ever.

Jo made the wig two Halloweens ago and it got TONS of comments along the parade route. The outfit made sense for the group we were with.

All Sitka parades run down the main street, Lincoln Street. This particular parade started at the Sheldon Jackson campus, meaning that it was probably about a half mile parade.

You know it's a big parade in Sitka if the Coast Guard does a flyover in formation. For my money, the MH-60s are the coolest thing flying in the military right now, and this is consistently the most exciting flyover I've ever seen.

In keeping with Sitka being selected as a Coast Guard City, the honor guard and Air Station crew started off the parade. I'll narrate the rest of the pics as appropriate.

Yes, Captain America apparently works on the USCGC Maple.

Sitka Mountain Rescue, our local search and rescue service, shows off all of their gear. That's a physics teacher up front.

Alaska Day re-enactors, much like re-enactors anywhere else.

Civil Air Patrol. In a state where aviation is a way of life, this is a great way for teenagers to get in the air, possibly leading to a professional career.

Filipinos!

Fortress of the Bear brought their pony. I guess their more famous residents weren't parade safe.

This is the group we were with. The gold-fendered wheel is on the bike formerly owned by Alice Machesney, a local eccentric and minor celebrity. Alice died just before we got to town last year, but her memory very much lives on. She was known for rowing to town and riding her bike year-round as well as having a massive grin and a love for polka music. There's a triathlon in her honor (row, bike, play accordion) and the bike shelter at the Raven Radio Cablehouse is dedicated to her. This group is raffling off her bike in order to raise funds for a sculpture at the bike shelter. Early in the parade, I heard someone on the side of the road mention that seeing Alice's bike was the best part of the whole parade. Their invitation to marchers asked for kids, wheels, and wigs!

Allen Marine - our local boat builder, tour operator, and small-vessel cruise company. I probably forgot something they do, but they're everywhere in town.

This may have been the float that got the best reactions from most of the audience. 21 babies born since September with their 21 moms (and a mom-to-be, from what I heard).

It may not have been Follow The Fold, but they were definitely working their tambourines!

Yeah....I don't know either.

Smokey kept getting hugged. It was pretty funny.

The National Guard has a very small presence in town.

It's not a parade if you don't end with the fire trucks. In this case, every vehicle in the fire department!

This last one's out of order, but it's so fun I think it makes the scrolling worthwhile. At the halfway point in the two-week senior high camp, Sitka Fine Arts Camp put on a show that makes it clear that these kids really understand what it is to be Sitkans, even on a temporary basis. Work hard, play hard, and really don't worry about letting your hair down because everyone else is just as weird as you are.