08/24/2004: "Fiona Grace Hannigan / Dead Humpback / Derby winner"

My best girlfriend in all the world, Jenni Williams and her husband Sean Hannigan, whom I adore... just had a healthy baby girl named Fiona Grace Hannigan.

Her mom just wrote me a moment ago:

August 23 at 6:11 p.m. 6#, 8oz 20 inches Beautiful skin Big feet Long fingers

Mommy and Daddy are still in shock that they have a baby.
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I guess I'm still in shock that they have a baby too. I had really wanted to go to Baltimore for the birth but the fall is an incredibly bad time of the year for me to get away. I can't wait to see the pictures though.

Two of my own sisters are currently pregnant as well. My oldest sister Diane in MN and my second to the youngest sister Jenny who lives in Anchorage. I'm throwing her a baby shower, but not a froo froo one, just a bbq for men and women...she's naming her boy Xander...isn't that adorable? I have to admit I'm the one who got her hooked on the Buffy series. I'm also going to paint an Alaskan themed Noah's Ark mural in Xander's room (two bears, two moose, two eagles, two whales etc.).

Speaking of whales, we had a baby humpback die near the (ironically) named community of "Lucky Me" on Douglas Island, near where I've been sailing all summer. The story mentions a couple other humpbacks that have been found dead from injuries consistent with being struck by large boats. It's so sad. Here's a photo of the necropsy by Pat Costello.

He also posted on his website a couple days ago this photograph that a 17 year old cruise ship passenger took on his last ever hike three years ago when he fell to his death trying to climb the Chop Gully section of Mt. Juneau later the same day this photo was taken.

It seems many cruise ship visitors have been killed, injured, or rescued while hiking in the area. They just don't understand the dangers. Only yesterday a woman visiting from Slovenia was plucked from a rocky ledge after seventeen hours of clinging to the side of Sheep Mountain.

On a brighter note, a local woman named Carol Munro won $15,000 when she caught the winning salmon in this year's 58th Annual Golden North Salmon Derby held here in Juneau. At 26.5 pounds it was the tiniest winner in derby history.

Replies: 2 Comments

on Tuesday, August 24th, holly said

Ah, so this is life in the wild, wild, North, North-West!

I've not seen your site for a few days- it looks *fantastic* Great colors!!

on Tuesday, August 24th, Elise said

Thanks Holly, I think I've told you already but I love your site's new look too!

And yes, this is part of life in the wild, wild, north-west. If you look at the list of top 100 fish in the derby, you'll see probably a third of the anglers who placed were women. Tough tough women here.

Speaking of which, remember awhile back laughing at that country "musician" named Toby Keith who plays for Republican fund raisers? I heard one of his songs "whiskey girl" on the radio today...check out these lyrics:

"Baby's got a '69 mustang
four on the floor, and you ought to hear the pipes ring
I jump behind the wheel and it's away we go
Hey, I drive too fast, but she don't care"

The song implies she's this tough chick, she has belly button ring and a tatoo and drinks whiskey and has a muscle car...but of course, he get's to drive. Do people outside the US ever listen to country music? I've become obsessed with it as a form of cultural study.