About 24 Hours!

So people have been making a trend of asking me, um, why the hell are you going to Alaska? Don't you have a good life here? So here is my answer. Uh, hell yeah I have a good life here. I have the most fantastic family I could ever hope for and they are always going to support me whether I'm in their backyard or in a grizzly bears back yard. My true friends will stick around and stay in touch whether I'm here or gone either (heck half of them don't live anywhere near me anyways!). But for me personally, here is not enough. There has always been a part of me just dying for more adventure. Granted, New England is great, but Alaska is like adventure on crack. Plus duh the salmon in Alaska! There is nothing even remotely close to that here. When am I coming back? I don't know. I wish I did so I could at least say "Hey I'll be home for Christmas" but I can't! I have to take this chance and ride it out and see how it goes "You only get one chance in life to leave your mark upon it, so when the pony he comes riding by you better sit your sweet ass on it". So I fly out Wednesday morning at 7:55am and I will be arriving in Alaska at 6:55pm. Concerns? Yeah, Scott and I forgot a trash can. Where are we going to throw our trash when we get there? Oh and do I have blinds or curtains? Like cuz this girl cannot sleep with people like creepin' and ESPECIALLY when Keta sees a moose and starts barooo'ing in the middle of the night. That would be a good impression for the neighbors: oh hey, yeah sorry my dog is barking at 4am, I forgot a trashcan and blinds, but everything will be alright tomorrow I swear! Also, I am dying just watching my credit card bill go up and up and up from Scott and dad driving up there I'm like oh youch that was an expensive fill up, okay that was too, okay it's time to get there and stop buying gas already. 45 fill ups later, there goes my bank account (and pay for next month, and the next one, and the next one... woof). Now how am I going to afford my trashcan and blinds? Scott and I will have to be those weird people that use skinned animals and curtains. Like okay we will hang the beaver over the bathroom window, okay this is a good spot for 5 fox, okay we will put the other 5 fox and an otter here. Sadly, this is probably normal. Gotta find a roadkill moose, skin the bugger, and use that as a curtain. That would cover like 3 windows. Today I went to this place called the Umbrella Factory in RI with my mom and sister an I saw a guinea hen and was like wow I should go pluck that things feathers off so we can make earrings with them. I think my boyfriend has totally destroyed any normal thought process that I ever had (then again, did I ever have normal thought processes? Probably not). Anyways, the next time I should write on this will be in an airport or Alaska. The most adorable thing- my mom wants to keep Keta's dog bowls because she misses her- and she's grown into quite the vacuum and her baby bowls are not big enough- that dog drinks a gallon of water in a sitting. Anyways that's it for now. Here's a picture of the 2 best friends that anyone could have that I broke up by moving I feel so bad. Duke is seriously sad and I'm sure Keta is too :(

Babies are bored in the boat.

Snacks? Please

There's No Turning Back, Keep Your Eyes on the Track

Hiked over 4500' in Mt Rainier National Park!

Beautiful and epic Mt. Rainier!

Fishing on the Smith River!

Holy Redwood stump!

California Coast

Me and my babygirl

Our family.

In 4 days, I will be on a plane to start a new life. Like, completely new life. Am I excited? Hell yeah! But I'm also about every other emotion you can be too: nervous, stressed, happy, sad, [you get the picture]. So since I last blogged, Scott and I accomplished quite a bit. April 20th we got a puppy, the love of my life! We didn't know what we were doing with ourselves, so we decided we would probably stay in New England until at least October to save money. We figured since it took me about 3 months to find a good rescue dog for my sister, it would take us the same. On April 13 we applied for a black lab, and on April 14th we were accepted to get Keta. Talk about a stressful week to get ready for her but she is such a wonderful amazing dog. So we got her, moved out of Rhode Island then took a 10 day trip from Seattle to San Francisco to celebrate our friends wedding. It was a ton of fun (and we managed to live 10 days on a road trip and not kill each other). We went hiking in Mt. Rainier National Park (BEAUTIFUL!), whale watching and camping on the Oregon Coast, sightseeing near Portland Oregon (we even saw Mumford & Sons in concert- so amazing!), fishing in Jedediah Smith Redwoods National Park (we didn't catch a thing but it was so beautiful), fishing on the Eel River in Northern California (I caught a chinook and Scott didn't- nah nah), camping in Point Reyes National Seashore, and then we celebrated our friends wedding in Oakland. It was great. But I missed my puppy obviously-10 days without Keta was torture. So before we went on our trip to Seattle-California, Scott found this position online. He was like "Umm I don't know if you are interested in this but it's worth looking into". I applied and was accepted (somehow). We are moving to Anchorage, Alaska. I will be going to the University of Alaska Anchorage as a Graduate Research Assistant studying sockeye salmon and paleoclimatology. Since I was accepted in June, Scott found a job working for Alaska Fish & Game as a Firearms Instructor (in Anchorage, only 6 miles from where I will be going to school). We found an apartment on a lake (fishingggg) and will be seeing it for the first time this Wednesday. Woah. So really all that's left to say is let the adventure begin- I will keep everyone posted on any excitement we have (really I'm sure there will be plenty!). Scott and my dad made it to Madison, WI so far and I will be flying there on August 14- I can't wait to see them at the airport! Then we have 1 week to enjoy the fishing and fun in Alaska with my dad before he flies home and we start work and school!

Breaking Windows, Stuffin' Chipmunks... Ya Know, The Usual Deal

Possibly the best afternoon!

First time I ever hit the target!

So I haven't written in quite a while but I haven't really been up to a whole lot except schoolwork, work, and homework- woof. BUT I mean there are obviously a few fun things to talk about. First, Scott bought me a bow for Christmas. Now, its 45 pound pullback weight- so basically picture lawnmowering a 45 pound weight but without a bench to rest your other hand on. Um, hardd!!! So I was determined to not be a weak baby. After Christmas, I practiced with a 25 pound pullback bow everyday and wham, now I can pull back the real bow. So obviously I feel like a badass Native American person. Like, I just want to make myself a dress out of a deer hide and grow my hair out until its to my back and sing "Colors of the Wind" all day while shooting my arrows. Anyways, so I've been doing alright. I can hit the target almost everytime, but then I have a few rogue shots here and there where I'm like ummmm what just happened? So this past weekend, I decided to work with my mom with the easy bow so she could shoot and I shot mine. So there is still snow at my parent's house [woof] and there's Duke poop literally everywhere, so we shot in the driveway. Possibly a bad idea- why? Hmm because a boat, 2 cars, 2 truck caps, a canoe, and some tires could get hit by the arrow. Did this go through my mind? Well, psh, no. Well, it did for my mom. I kept my mom shooting far away from any objects, but I needed a longer shot than her or my arrow would have shot straight through the target (and it is hard to get those things out of foam if they are like real stuck in there). So I move the target so behind it is 2 truck caps, a boat, a canoe, and some tires. I wasn't worried though, because I was Pocahauntis and seriously I had skill. So I hit the target about 12 times, but ya know those rogue shots always come back to bite you in the ass. My final shot went right over the target by an inch, ricocheted off a rock, ricocheted off a truck cap, and smashed the window of the other truck cap. Whoopsies. It's funny because I had Scott's 2 little brothers at the house last week and they ya know get into things, they don't technically ruin anything forever, but they mess stuff up. So I'm thinking about how much of an angel I am because ya know [not that they are like 11 and 13 years old or anything and I'm 22- the age gap may cause the difference] kids wreck everything. Then I go home and smash a window- what a gem I am. But, luckily, my dad shot a rock through the side of his weedwhacker last summer and it shattered our front door so I didn't look as awful. So aside from shooting arrows all over the place, today I got to skin and stuff a chipmunk in lab. Straight up, its like peeling an orange. So you slice up the chipmunk's belly then like an orange you peel his skin off and you get a little chipmunk muscle thing and a skin! Okay I know that is real nasty but its true life- it's like having a roasting chicken chipmunk. So after skinning the little buddy I stuffed it up with cotton like a build-a-bear/chipmunk (I should have put a little heart in it and such, but wasn't feeling it). And whala! From Molly to Chuck Testa in 3 hours- on a side note, we used cornmeal to soak up the bodily juices- never eating THAT again-woof. The stripers should be moving in this week, and the canoe races are in 2 weeks, so I should have some more posts coming!! Also, Scott makes some awesome earrings and flies! He just started his website (he has a lot more cool stuff this is just the beginning) but check it out and look at it often because he will be adding more stuff soon!

I bet you thought this chipmunk was alive.... NOOPE

Check out the earrings! Scott made them- they look pretty elegant for partridge feathers!

                                              Scott's Earrings- Buy Some!!

Team Riley Ice Fishing Derby

So I thought of my good old blog today at a random time: so I went to get my oil changed at my family mechanics (one of my dad's good friends) and noticed that he was wearing this wonderful blue bracelet that I happen to hold dear to my heart. It reads "Living the Life of Riley"- my dad and I sold it to him well over a year ago, and he was still wearing it. Then I thought, oh gosh I never blogged about the ice fishing derby! Duhh. So first off, who is Riley for those of you that don't know. My cousin Riley is a caring, loving, beautiful, fun 7 year old in 2011 (which, as far as I'm concerned, he is still all of those things!). Everything was normal. I was starting my first semester at URI and three days into a new school and new place, I got a phone call from my grim sounding father on a Wednesday. You know when a tragedy happens and you remember every detail of what was happening around you when it happened or when you heard about it? Yeah, that was this night. My dad reluctantly told me "Moll, your cousin Riley has a brain tumor". I didn't really know what to do other than cry. A brain tumor? He's 7! 7 year- olds are not supposed to get brain tumors! And he was a fine, normal kid! Nothing was wrong with him! I was so scared for him, for my family. That Friday, he went to Boston Children's Hospital to get surgery to see just what was up with this tumor. I arrived at the hospital that Friday night to find my family devastated- Riley had brain cancer. I remember Riley that night, after getting a horrifying surgery for even the bravest of adults, woke up with a smile and said
"Hi Molly, and is anyone else coming to see me?" The hospital time continued for Riley all the way thru Christmas, when he was finally allowed to come home for a month. He was still so cheerful after undergoing painful chemo and radiation treatment. His mother, grandparents, and aunts threw great family parties to so we could spend time with Riley, and his mom even threw a fantastic birthday party for him (he turned 8), even with a surprise visit from Rob Ninkovich from the Patriots (who has become a pretty close friend to Riley's mom and grandparents!). He went back to Boston after some time home and continued his treatment. Our visits continued to Boston- you know I really love someone if I drive through Boston for them, because this girl does not do cities- and Riley continued to remain optimistic. In April, treatments were going extremely well, and doctors believed that he could rid himself of the tumors and possibly become cancer-free by 2013. Everyone was so hopeful. We had many scares, but we all seriously believed that wow, he was really doing so great. He was in every way a hero and a fighter: he was strong, determined, optimistic, and so wise. Towards the end of April, though, we got horrible news. His condition seriously declined in a matter of days. Riley fought so hard, but we lost him on June 9, 2012. My family has been and will be forever changed by this but the moral of the story is: we are all so blessed to have had Riley in our lives, even if it was for so short of a time. So, to rally for some funds for Riley and his mom while they were in Boston, we all sold blue bracelets reading "Living the Life of Riley". You know how people just wear those rubber bracelets all the time? Well these rubber bracelets aren't just an accessory, they are a piece of my heart. See, Riley, in his 8 years of life, had it all figured out. He understood that life wasn't about your possessions, looks, the way you dress, where you live, any of that crap. Riley realized that life was about the relationships you have and the love you share with people. He knew to treat everyone with kindness, patience, and love. He always asked "if anyone else was coming" because he valued personal relationships and time with family and loved ones. How many of us can honestly say that we are that kind of person? I know I can't. One day when I visited, Riley hadn't eaten in 4 days! 4 days! And he wasn't freaking out or anything, he just kindly kept asking the nurses if he could have some food because he was hungry. Okay, I would have killed 20 people by then. Obviously, his mother was so strong and incredible and amazing- she instilled these values in her son in 8 short years. That is something people fail to accomplish in their lifetimes. So anyways, in Riley's legacy, my family has been attending events, Riley events, with our "Riley Superhero" banner that my uncle (Riley's grandpa) made. So that [finally, sorry for the long story!] brings me to the Metacomet Fishing Derby held January 27, 2012. Riley and his grandpa had a long history at this derby. Actually, they won a few times and made it in the newspaper for biggest trout! Riley loved this derby, as did my whole family. I spent many years of my childhood attending this derby, and I even won a few times too! So we made a team for the derby for the first year. We were determined to fish for Riley. There was a lot of heart backing this team, not just booze, snow machines, and charcoal buckets (though we did have a snow machine and charcoal bucket, and ya know a few kicks of peppermint schnapps if needed). So, at the crack of dawn as in 4AM!!! our team woke up after a massive sleepover to get geared up for the derby. At 5AM, -6 degrees outside, my dad and I were on the 4-wheeler dragging the sleds across the lake in the pitch black. Somehow, we lucked out to have a full moon so I guess it wasn't pitch black. My little cousin Maizy, Riley's cousin, was telling us about the full moon. Apparently at her school they called it the "Wolf moon" and all the little kids were scared of it (okay, if you've read the 3 little pigs as a kid, you know wolves mean business, like, they knock pigs houses down) but Maizy said that "the wolf moon is her friend, even though he followed her all the way home!". Whelp, luckily the wolf moon stayed friends with us and made our morning a lot easier! By 5:30 AM, the team was assembled and setting up camp and drilling holes by the light of the wolf. Tip ups were in the water by 6AM and we were ready to rumble. So unfortunately, our hearts were a lot bigger than our lucky horseshoes. We caught a BUNCH of small pickerel and perch, and a few trout not big enough to be worth anything. Aka, Team Riley did not win the derby. But here's the thing: we had an awesome family day. It brought all of us together outside for a day on the ice of socializing, fishing, and eating delicious charcoal bucket foods (if you haven't eaten a charcoal bucket cheeseburger at 8AM for lunch, you haven't lived). So, even though we didn't win the derby, we were still "Living the Life of Riley". My cousin Sam caught her first fish ice fishing! I learned that I am capable of ice fishing by myself because I was basically the "son my dad doesn't have" [well, my dad has a son, but he's not into freezing his ass off at 5AM on a lake dipping his hands in freezing water- brother J, I don't blame you buddy]. But, who am I kidding, I love it. I hate getting up at 6:30AM for school, but I was up at 4AM for ice fishing, ready to go. Something about being outside, smelling the fresh air, catching your own food (well, we didn't keep anything, but usually we do), observing the natural world around, and enjoying being a part of something other than the dent that is forming from your ass in the couch, just calls to me. I love it. I can't get enough of it. That is my legacy to "Live the Life of Riley"- do what makes me happy. Be with the people I love, and soak up the things that bring me joy and happiness.

Flag! Umm, definitely a little pickerel on there.

Going for a ride! With a cooler of fish!

Duke's way of coping with the cold- begging for snacks.

Other Pictures Because I Can

Duke, like the rest of us, after the holidays. Super fat, super tired.

The BEST Christmas pajamas ever. Okay, you can do anything in these. Run, jump, flip, play games, bake, ice skate (haven't tried ice skating yet).

Okay, so I know this picture makes you want a pair for sure. Built in butt flap? I know you're sold. They are called "Lazy Ones" you should probably buy one (or 10).

Early morning on Laurel Lake! Beautiful!

Pulling up a perch. Honestly, I just want a damn trout or salmon okay perch, go away.

Heyoooo pickle (I know it's actually a pickerel, but I call them pickles- why? Because I love the "I've got a pickle" song from Little Rascals and like to sing it when I catch one. I would say don't judge me, but if you've been reading this, you know I'm a unique person already)

Wait, Molly and Scott dress up? Rarely, but yes. Aren't we just so dang cute?

Why Are there Underwear on his Tip- Ups?

Last years tiger trout! This years were definitely not as pretty colored!

 So after our rainbow trout tragedy, obviously dad and I had to get back out on the ice. It was a Friday afternoon and POURING rain. Obviously, pouring rain isn't going to stop us. We figured hey, drill our holes right near the parking lot and sit in the truck and wait for flags. I know, lazy way out, but better than getting drenched (obviously, I did that enough hunting this season!) Total diversion, the dog is sleeping next to me and he's twitching like crazy. Anyways, so we get there around 4 in the afternoon, only an hour to fish but whatever, enough for us! So there was one other poor bastard on the ice fishing near the parking lot, but he was sitting out in the rain. Crazy man! So dad and I were sliding all over the place. Ice + water= fall and break your back. So we drilled our 10 holes and started walking towards the truck, but bang bang! 2 flags up. I lost whatever I had, but dad had a tiger trout chasing around his shiner. When we are trout and salmon fishing, we set our shiners right under the ice. When we are fishing for other stuff, perch, pickerel, crappie, etc., we set about 2 feet off the bottom. We usually do a good variety of right under the ice and far down just to have the best chance of catching anything! People go to Laurel Lake for the day and set only for trout and salmon, and I've witnessed people not even having a flag, ALL DAY! Talk about boorrinnnggg.. [Dog is now snoring and twitching]. So since our set was right under the ice, we could watch this tiger trout striking and playing with this shiner. Dad's philosophy is that trout and salmon hit the shiner head on, so we set our hooks ahead of the dorsal fin. Sure enough, when the tiger trout was done playing, he slammed the shiner head on and we hooked him up. He was a little stockie, so we let him back but I LOVE the markings on tiger trout. I caught one beauty (picture) last year! Anyways, so we let that tiger trout go, and another flag went up. I pulled up a beautiful brown trout (tried to get a picture with him, but my parents don't know how to operate cameras: seriously). Then the tiger trout hole flag went up again and I pulled up another tiger trout (picture attempt (FAIL) below haha). At this point, we notice the other guy glaring at us. He's walking towards us to one of his tip-ups so my dad decides to walk towards him to see how he's been doing. My dad gets 3/4 the way to this guy and the guy turns around and walks away. Um, dad got the SHUT DOWN! I was cracking up hysterically. Obviously, this man was very pissed with us. At this time, dad and I obviously have to start picking this dude apart. Seriously, sass move! First problem: his tip-ups. They looked like little jigging rods attached to a stand. Um, people, I know technology has advanced, but what is wrong with traditional tip-ups? They are cheap, efficient, easy to use, and you can see everything beneath the hole using them! Oh, easy to repair too. Duct tape, anyone? While we are examining these fancy spancy tip ups, we got another hit and my dad pulled up a nice rainbow trout! We caught and released all the fish, we just wanted to do a little fishing! So after the rainbow we were like okay seriously fish, stop hitting we are getting soaked. No kneeling to pull in fish, just squatting, and after doing P90X legs, um holy tolito I was not feeling the squats! So we went in the truck to dry off and my mom's sitting in there she goes "That guy is NOT happy with you two!" The guy was packing up his stuff at this time, clearly um pissed! So when he's pulling up his probably $50 fancy tip ups, my dad goes "what the hell are those?" Mom goes "hm, they look like Christmas tree skirts" Dad goes, full out ranting "God, people these days, got their fandangled fancy ass fishing gear with underwear on it. Who wants fishing gear with underwear? Oh, I've gotta put the skibbies on my tip-up before it gets fishing!! How the hell is he going to see if the line is moving? Whats that little rod for? A midget!?" We gave the angry man a friendly wave as he left, and he returned it with a pretty scary glare. I swear, we are lucky we didn't get any more flags when he was there, or he would have probably grabbed his auger, threw it on the ice and yelled "HORSESHIT!" and stomped around, and with the stomping probably would have fell on his already soaking wet ass. So, after grumpy gills left, we cleaned up our tip ups and I got kind of stuck on the ice. We needed to walk up an icy hill to get to the truck, but dummy forgot her ice picks yet again. I got halfway up the hill and did the duck flap like pleaseee let me get up the hill. Noope, slid back down. Same thing happened again, but more flapping, and my dad decided to help my pathetic ass self. Anyone feel bad for my dad and boyfriend yet? The stuff they have to deal with, I swear they are saints.

Why is this picture upside down? I don't know you tell me. Anyways, that's a rainbow coming out of the hole!

Nice tiger trout I've got, can't you see it? The trout decided that posing for 5 minutes was not it's deal since ya know my parents cannot operate cameras. I always look so attractive when fish are diving out of my hands- hot [mess]

I should be saying "my preciousssssssss" and take a bite out of the trout. Seriously, need to kneel. Squatting= badonkadonk bigger than Fuzzy's!

Oh Boy, We've Got Another Case of the "Daddy, HELP's"

So I haven't blogged in a while. Why? Because I'm a sporadic blogger. I remember "oh, I should write in my blog" and then oh, I don't. So here's the catch up. Hunting season was, well a typical season for me minus ya know breaking my ankle. See that beautiful beast to your left there? Yeah him. Well, I'm sitting in a good hunting spot in Richmond, MA. My dad and his buddy Dennis are like "oh, we are going to do a push for you like you should see a deer and ya know be able to shoot it". Good, awesome. It was a nice day um I didn't even have to wear my 30 pound wool coat (WIN!). So I'm sitting on my rock in the woods waiting for um something so I figured ya know why not use my deer call make some buck noises, maybe I'll piss off some pig (like the one of the left). So I make a few good buck grunts and sit back. Then I hear gobbling I'm like oh, stupid ass turkeys them BOOM. Buck was heading right for me, but Dennis was waiting to push for me that hey the sucker walked right into him. Dressed out at 146. Whatthehell! So I shot a tree to make myself feel better, then had to reload the goddamn muzzleloader after, which sucked (especially because I got tree bark stuck in the rod thing and then had to sit down with my knife and dig the stupid bark out- this girl is a disaster). Anyways, so Scott came home to visit for Christmas and hey! His little brother went outside for like, 5 minutes and shot a deer (kids 12). Scott said he had a lucky horseshoe up his ass. Well taking a kid with a lucky horseshoe up his ass hunting is better than a rabbits foot, eating copious amounts of cookies, and all the shit. So, Nate and Scott come up to hunt. Which, obviously, was a fail. Nate's feet got sore within like an hour. My dad and I kept on truckin further into the woods. The wind was howling and trees were falling all over- I know, safe. We had a doe and buck permit so if it was brown, it was down. So, we jump 4 deer. I've got a good gun, and a scope, and all that but I was so frickin flustered with all the deer running that I didn't even know what to do other than freak out in my head and not even shoot like a dumbass. After that, it snowed pretty heavy and honestly, I was just too lazy to go walking in 16 inches of snow- can you blame me? So, another year without a deer. Fail. So that was the close of 2012, bringing on 2013. Scott headed back to Alaska (boo) and I decided to do something I'm actually good at- ice fishing. Dad and I lasted 4 days into the new year before we had to get out on the ice. We set our 10 tip ups, and had constant action on Laurel Lake in Lee, MA all morning. Crappies, perch, pickerel, bass, everything. So, one flag goes up right. I slide over to it (because my dumbass forgot the ice pick things that go on your boots- okay almost took about 15 diggers) I hook the fish and it's fighting just like a perch so I'm like oh got another perch on cool. Well, then I saw the fish, and basically needed some huggies. It was a rainbow trout, but like, not the normal rainbow trout I see. This rainbow was the size of the pacific salmon I was catching in Alaska, at least 5 pounds and well over 20 inches. All I saw was the huge side and the rainbow coloring. I was like holy shit. "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, HELLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!". It's funny how people resort to acting like babies in serious moments. Like, this was a serious moment in my life and I'm wailing like a 3 year old at the playground whose got his underwear caught in the swingset (yes, it happened to me). So my dads like "umm, yeah?" DADDY, GET OVER HERE QUICK, HELLLLP!!!!. Dad gets to the hole and I swear his eyes almost popped out of his head. This rainbow was thrashing like crazy near the hole. He saw the light and obviously did not want to be mounted on my wall for the rest of his life. I got his head as far out of the hole as I could and the (STUPID) circle hook popped right out. Dad went flying into the hole, grabbing for the rainbow, but obviously, it was slippery and smart. We didn't see another trout for the rest of the day. Why? Because papa trout went back down there and said "Guys, guys! You know how they tell you in church when you're about to die you see the light? I SAW IT! But it wasn't nice, there was this girl with a pretty deformed screaming some word that sounded like duck, and a weird red haired dude who looked kind of like santa grabbing me in the face. Seriously, if you want an easy way out, just eat a stick or two, but don't go towards the light!" Seriously, if this fishing season is going to be the season of the crappie, I'm gunna snap.

Dad with a nice largemouth!

First flag of 2013!

Crappie, my first fish of 2013. Though you are tasty mr. crappie, I'm a trout and salmon kinda gal.

Okay even though I missed the trout of my LIFE, we had a pretty tasty fish fry when we got home.