The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaskan Livin': Learn How to Survive Moose Attacks, Endless Winters, & Life Without Indoor Plumbing

by Brookelyn Bellinger

The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaskan Livin' both embraces and instructs readers on everything one needs to know to be a true Alaskan, or at least to look the part. Combining both handbook format with... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570614849
• ISBN13: 9781570614842
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

She makes me want to live here!

I am almost finished reading The Frozen Toe.. and I must say that Brookelyn Bellinger is a wonderful author. Not only is she a wonderful storyteller, but a funny quick witted woman. Everyone says that we are crazy for wanting to uproot ourselves and move to Alaska, but this book made me feel like I could really do it. This book made me realize that some people are just called to live in Alaska, and some arent. I hope that our journey will be as fascinating as Brookelyn's.. ((and shes very nice too, she answered a quick email question I had about moving.. I almost peed my pants when I saw she replied back! An email from a celeb, who would have thought! haha)) A+++++++++ all the way!

Great book for anyone going to Alaska

Either for vacation or to live permanently, this book is an insight into the great state of Alaska. Brookelyn did a great job combining humor, wit and truth to some serious subjects that are overlooked from the lowerfortyeightians. Enjoy the book..

Don't move to Alaska without this!

I really enjoyed reading this book, after I returned home from my first trip to Alaska (in the summer, of course). Alaska is spectacular, but many of us harbor romantic ideas about what it is really like to live in the wilderness. This book will absolutely bring you back to earth, with wit and humor, and will educate you on living in lonliness, darkness and cold! A great beach read on a HOT day.

It's Fun Being An Alaskan

Boy, Brookelyn Bellinger makes being an Alaskan sound like lots of fun. She also makes Alaskans sound like lots of drunks, but ... Bellinger's book, "The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaska Livin'," is a compendium of anecdotes, how-to information, advice and snarky commentary on living in the 49th State. From its do-it-yourself acknowledgement, which I found quite amusing, to the off-the-cuff introduction ("I figured most people would skip over the introduction - I usually do ...") and beyond, Bellinger throws zingers right and left on subjects as diverse as working in Alaska, dressing in Alaska and not going insane in Alaska. Bellinger came to Alaska as a 19-year-old Minnesotan dreaming of adventure. She'd long thought she belonged here, she tells us, because it is "... a place where all kinds of oddballs fit in." But seriously, she actually longed for the independence, adventure, wide-open spaces and "plethora of espresso stands. Landing here with $200 and a backpack, she managed to find two jobs right off - working at a B & B in exchange for food and a piece of ground on which to pitch a tent, and selling fishing tackle and other "fish-killing" accoutrements. Bellinger has had quite the gamut of Alaskan experiences, and she's not shy about telling us about them - successes and failures alike. She talks about the time she and her husband took on a homestead caretaking job on Unimak Island for the winter. Sharing excerpts from her diary (with added "If I knew then what I know now" comments), Bellinger carries us through a winter of too much fish, too much wind and not enough beer. She also shares the life lessons learned - if you're going to go for seven months of isolation, choose someplace with trees (for firewood) and "large animals to kill for meat." Her husband, however, would never do it again. "Seven months is a long time to be isolated." Bellinger picks up a lot of what attracts most of us to this place. The outdoor life, of course - hunting, fishing, dog mushing, road trips to extremely civilization-challenged places - but she also mentions the intangibles as well. The lack of concern over fashion and following trends and keeping warm versus looking good are my favorite part of being Alaskan, although I've yet to go for the extreme (read "formal") Carhartt look Bellinger advocates. I definitely enjoyed the "Twelve Simple Ways to Look the Part." These rules should be read to all newcomers as they deplane or deboat or de-car, because, frankly, it would make their lives much simpler. Bellinger tells us to lose all our suits, unless we want them for Halloween, and to keep the swimsuit for the PFD vacations to Hawaii. "Showers and clean clothes are overrated;" fur is the best way to stay warm and immediately buy stock in Carhartts. But Bellinger also celebrates the spirit of Alaska: the ability to fend for oneself in any situation, the breathtaking beauty of the natural surroundings and the challenge of facing (and sometimes) beating Mother Na

Great Spring/Summer Reading

There are plenty of coffee table and rather bland tourist kind of books about Alaska. An ample supply of glacier cruises, salmon bakes and float planes flying in front of mountains . But as an Arctic Alaskan I know that many "Outsiders" would like more. Well here it is! Author Brookelyn Bellinger knows the real Alaska. She lives without running water and well beyond our "big city" of Anchorage. To become the Alaska woman, she advises, "Being able to butcher a moose is a skill that will be able to get you a date." And to become the Alaska man, "Once in a while you should make your dog team sleep on the floor." With two Greenland Huskies in our household, I don't know if I could go that far! Bellinger understands that Alaskan men rarely consider washing their Carhartts bib top overalls. And that all the cake and ice cream in the world won't make the winters any shorter. Read this book and learn the importance of duct tape, outhouses/honey buckets and (where I live) lots of dog hair,ice/mud and gravel all over the house and car or truck! Enjoy!