The Next Chapter in the Book . . .: Chapter 291: CONGRATULATIONS NCO of the YEAR!

CONGRATULATIONS TO NCO OF THE YEAR

CHRISTOPHER WALKER!

Although Chris received his awards this weekend, this news is worthy of being shared first. Chris had already received the exciting news that he was NCO of the quarter. This is a big deal and so they were "invited" to a banquet to receive his award. So Saturday they dropped Reagan and Bear with us and went off to Tacoma to receive Chris' award. Before the banquet, there was some confusion and let's just say Chris owes Kyanne big time for rescuing him. BIG time.

Anyway, no only did Chris come home with his quarterly award, he received the NCO award for the YEAR! How exciting! Congratulations to Chris...and Kyanne. Boy oh boy did Chris ever bring home the hardware!

Fortunately for Chris' mom and I, I had guilted the kids into buying the overly inflated photo that was offered. How can they not get a picture when they look this great?

Now that the awesome news is out of the way, let's move onto less awesome news, then to the worthless "news". You may be asking "How can it be called "news" if it's worthless"? Well, politicians are in the news with worthless information, so I can be too.

Last week was Easter and Reagan dutifully dressed up in her pretty Easter dress. She was good about it, but it didn't mean she had to like it.

A girl can't crawl properly when dressed up like this. How did girls ever learn to crawl or walk when they were dressed like this all day, every day as part of their culture?

Ok, enough. Time for a nap. This is EXACTLY what her mother would do at nap time. Carissa would crawl up to her crib, pull her blanket through the slats, lay on the floor and go to sleep. It looks like the tradition continues.

Chris shows Reagan how to enjoy bubbles on Easter.

Not to be left out of the action in our backyard, Bear begs for someone to come try to kick the ball out of his mouth until his brain rattles.

Chris bought a ride-on tractor for Reagan (and Bob) to play with. Chris insists it's an "outside" toy. Grampa says she can play with it wherever she wants to. It is currently parked in our living room.

Wednesday my friend MaryLou and I went to Victoria for the night. We left from Port Angeles where we could see the bare-naked Olympics up close and personal.

The slogan of the Barhop Brewery struck me as really funny at 7 a.m. after driving for a few hours.

On board the Black Ball ferry MV (Marine Vessel) Coho looking back at Port Angeles.

The sun is just coming up as our ferry leaves the dock.

The Parliament building photobombs my first tourist selfie.

MaryLou and I in the bright sun of Victoria.

We went to Dragon Alley, a.k.a. Chinatown.

The most sophisticated pot sign I've seen on a marijuana shop. Most of the time they are printed or handwritten on paper or a cheesy "A" frame sign.

Why is this dragon climbing the pole on a street corner? He must have been a patron of the afore mentioned social club.

We walked all around the waterfront and Victoria, a total of 12.8 miles the first day.

It was dark as we headed back and the lights of Victoria were reflected on James Bay.

The obligatory night photo of the parliament building.

We stayed at the third oldest hotel in Victoria. It was built in 1911.

When was the last time you had a "real" key for a motel room?

The hotel is now in a neighborhood of really cute Victorian houses.

One of the houses had this artistic fence

with stained glass inset in it. Not my style, but I think it's cool looking.

Whaat?

These painting were on the side of a building to spiff it up a bit. Each of the three paintings are flat paintings on a board and attached to the wall. They look SO three dimensional!

MaryLou and I walked right up to these paintings and we still could not believe they were painted on a flat surface then mounted on the vacant wall.

Although you can't really see it, this bowl has greyhounds in the inside and outside. It would have been a great limited-edition bowl Kyanne didn't really need and wasn't going to get anyway. If I did have any doubts about whether to get it for her or not, the $1,260 price tag was the deal breaker.

As we were leaving Victoria Thursday, James Harbor was abuzz with activity. All manner of water craft were out enjoying the sunshine. The cute little water taxi shown below, sail boats, kayaks, sea planes, etc.

A sea plane follows us out of the harbor. I thought this was going to be a great opportunity for a creative photo so I made my way to the back of the boat to get a clear shot. My plan was to take a selfie with the seaplane taking off behind me.

What I got was a selfie of my finger and no seaplane. (Insert sad face here.)

The sun was setting as we crossed the water back to the U.S. Just as my phone showed we crossed into American waters, I see this log raft of 4 seagulls making their way to U.S. shores. At this rate, they should be here by the middle of next month.

A 360 degree panorama shot from the bow of the Coho.

Another panorama from our evening walk around James Bay. Our hotel is on the other side of the bay so we had quite a walk ahead of us.

Saturday we went to the Georgetown Steam Plant with the Jaguar club and took a tour. It's an amazing slice of history that's fascinating to look at. It's on the National Registry of Historic Places and is slowly being renovated by volunteers.

I don't know what machines are but they look like giants of the same old engines we used to have.

You can see the giant engine flywheel in the background.

...and up close.

Gauges on the boilers.

A view from the cat walk.

The steam plant is a popular location for artists, photographers, actors, and in this case, Steampunks were having a photo shoot while we were there. According to the Seattle Times, “The term “steampunk” was coined 30 years ago by author K.W. Jeter, who wrote a sequel to H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” about a trip back in time to 1890s London. The subcultural genre has popped up since in all sorts of places... in movies including Will Smith’s “Wild, Wild West” and Nicole Kidman’s “The Golden Compass,” and at a growing number of gatherings throughout the U.S." Jules Verne's science fiction books such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea also add inspiration to this culture.

The Georgetown Steamplant put our car on their Facebook page.

This tube contains a "wool stretcher". This and a very small wooden first aid box are all the medical rescue equipment available for those working around this huge, often explosive equipment.