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The Holmeses #1
Good-Bye, Boise... Hello, Alaska
"A true story about a mother and her two sons from a town in Idaho who find themselves transplanted to a 200-square-mile sheep range in Alaska's remonte Aleutian Islands, they discover the changes and challenges of total isolation. with a wise new husband and father they learn to depend on each other."
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 15, 2014
I read many books about Alaska, but this is the first one I've read about a family living on Unalaska, an island in the Aleutian Islands chain. I had mistakenly believed that the Aleutian weather was too harsh and inhospitable for ranch living or much of anything, but this story enlightened me. The Aleutians actually have mild winters, and cool summers, which makes them perfect for grazing animals.
Cora (a former nurse) and her two sons move to a ranch on Chernofski Island so that Cora can be the bookkeeper for a rancher there. The two eventually marry, and Milt (the rancher) helps raise the boys as the family works together to sheer sheep, round up cattle, and store the local crabber's pots/traps in the off season. The boys are home schooled, and the family lives with a generator for lighting and a coal stove for cooking and heat. They only receive mail a few times per year, groceries once every year or two, and any illness or injury that requires a doctor's care means a long boat or airplane journey. The story takes place in the 1970s, long before the Internet or satellite TV, so they rely on books, magazines, letters from home, board games and conversation for their entertainment. Their only contacts with the outside world are the occasional boats that call, and a radio that gives them weather and news. Despite the isolation and hard work, the family loves their ranch and rises to each challenge. The book follows a year or so in their lives, bringing the reader along on cattle drives and fishing expeditions.
I really enjoyed this book, which was released by Reiman Publications - best known for "A Taste of Home" and "Farm And Ranch Living" magazines. The book is full of beautiful pictures of the ranch, the animals, the sea, and of course Cora and her family. I am going to check to see if Cora has written any other books to cover the years since this one was written.
Cora (a former nurse) and her two sons move to a ranch on Chernofski Island so that Cora can be the bookkeeper for a rancher there. The two eventually marry, and Milt (the rancher) helps raise the boys as the family works together to sheer sheep, round up cattle, and store the local crabber's pots/traps in the off season. The boys are home schooled, and the family lives with a generator for lighting and a coal stove for cooking and heat. They only receive mail a few times per year, groceries once every year or two, and any illness or injury that requires a doctor's care means a long boat or airplane journey. The story takes place in the 1970s, long before the Internet or satellite TV, so they rely on books, magazines, letters from home, board games and conversation for their entertainment. Their only contacts with the outside world are the occasional boats that call, and a radio that gives them weather and news. Despite the isolation and hard work, the family loves their ranch and rises to each challenge. The book follows a year or so in their lives, bringing the reader along on cattle drives and fishing expeditions.
I really enjoyed this book, which was released by Reiman Publications - best known for "A Taste of Home" and "Farm And Ranch Living" magazines. The book is full of beautiful pictures of the ranch, the animals, the sea, and of course Cora and her family. I am going to check to see if Cora has written any other books to cover the years since this one was written.
July 13, 2022
This is Little House Ranch on the Tundra, a true pioneer story.
Chernofski Sheep Ranch is on Unalaska Island, part of the Aleutian Islands, the tail that swings from Alaska to Russia. Cora Holmes, author of this memoir, went from being a NICU nurse in Boise to cook, butcher, wrangler, shepherd, and spinner. And mother and wife. I particularly enjoyed the quiet wisdom of Milt Holmes, Cora's former boss, now husband and stepfather to her two sons. The photographs were a bonus.
No electricity except from a generator. Wood cookstove. Order two years of supplies at a time. Mail arrives sporadically when a boat comes into the harbor. The family of four relies on each other.
While it wasn't a page-turner like a Grisham novel, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Chernofski Sheep Ranch is on Unalaska Island, part of the Aleutian Islands, the tail that swings from Alaska to Russia. Cora Holmes, author of this memoir, went from being a NICU nurse in Boise to cook, butcher, wrangler, shepherd, and spinner. And mother and wife. I particularly enjoyed the quiet wisdom of Milt Holmes, Cora's former boss, now husband and stepfather to her two sons. The photographs were a bonus.
No electricity except from a generator. Wood cookstove. Order two years of supplies at a time. Mail arrives sporadically when a boat comes into the harbor. The family of four relies on each other.
While it wasn't a page-turner like a Grisham novel, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read.
September 6, 2011
Hard to read at first, didn't know what was going on, but after a chapter or 2 I decided to finish this authors move to Alaska with her 2 boys. It covers the boys growing up there and her meeting and getting married.
June 17, 2009
An inside look at what goes on in a family living alone on a ranch in the Aleutian Islands. Couldn't put it down. Reads like a true life adventure story.
November 1, 2020
In my research of all things cold and colder for a series I am working on, I was recommended Cora Holmes' book, Good - bye, Boise...Hello, Alaska, about her life on Chernofski Ranch on Unalaska Island which is one of the islands that comprise the Aleutian islands. While I read the book in the hope of reading up on the disastrous weather conditions in the area (there are no disastrous weather conditions, at least not on Unalaska Island, much to the consternation of my research) the story of Ms. Holmes and her family was quite interesting to read and very heartwarming. The book takes place over a few years starting in 1979 when she arrives with her 2 boys to accept a position at the ranch where Ms. Holmes decided to move her 2 boys out of Boise, Idaho. She worked at a hospital in neonatal intensive care and traded her medical career to give her boys a better life.
There isn't anything to give away. It is a book that describes her joys, her sorrows, her marriage, her 2 boys, and what her life transformed into when she left urban life behind and went full-bore native in a tiny corner of the world making a difference every day for her family and the crews of the boats that stop by at irregular intervals to get food and drop off mail.
A nice book. It might remind you why a simpler life can sometimes feel so appealing even knowing the amount of work that simpler life entails. Thank you for the memories, Ms. Holmes.
There isn't anything to give away. It is a book that describes her joys, her sorrows, her marriage, her 2 boys, and what her life transformed into when she left urban life behind and went full-bore native in a tiny corner of the world making a difference every day for her family and the crews of the boats that stop by at irregular intervals to get food and drop off mail.
A nice book. It might remind you why a simpler life can sometimes feel so appealing even knowing the amount of work that simpler life entails. Thank you for the memories, Ms. Holmes.
March 7, 2018
As my family moves further and further down the path of farmers and low-grid living, Good-Bye, Boise... Hello, Alaska was a timely read. We're going into our second year on our tiny farm, and reading about a summer on Cora Holmes's ranch brought me so much peace and happiness.
This story isn't full of crazy outback caricatures like on some reality tv show. Instead, it's a peek into the quiet adventure filled lives of one family who has chosen to make a life on a remote island in southern Alaska.
It's a lesson in hustling after the immediate problems in front of you, and leaving the worry and pressure of "normal" society behind. Cora shares her concerns as a mother, wife, and her strength as a ranch hand with us in a story that is intimate and relateable.
This story isn't full of crazy outback caricatures like on some reality tv show. Instead, it's a peek into the quiet adventure filled lives of one family who has chosen to make a life on a remote island in southern Alaska.
It's a lesson in hustling after the immediate problems in front of you, and leaving the worry and pressure of "normal" society behind. Cora shares her concerns as a mother, wife, and her strength as a ranch hand with us in a story that is intimate and relateable.
March 14, 2019
Cora Holmes writs simply and from the heart as she describes life on an extremely remote ranch on Chernofski Island in Alaska. A neonatal nurse from Boise Idaho, Cora & her two sons moved north when she met and fell in love with Milt. Cattle round ups, mail twice a year if they were lucky,sheep round ups, heart-pounding adventures on stormy seas as they delivered goods to anchored fishing fleets, school by mail--Cora doesn't leave out any hard or frightening detail but her pleasure in living this tough life and being able to handle anything that came her way is akin to a silver thread running through rough fabric. I admire the way in whichCora displayed that her life wasn't always enjoyable but it was satisfying.
September 8, 2017
This story was remarkable. It opened my eyes to the things we have in our everyday life that maybe aren't as necessary as we think. I've always thought it would be amazing to live in Alaska, so remote, so disconnected from so much - I think we are TOO connected sometimes. I LOVED the story or Peep Sheep (I grew up on a farm raising sheep). The whole story just kept me so interested as it brought you into the life of the Holmes family. Great book!
September 4, 2019
It is hard for me imagine anyone wanting to live this type of life. It was uplifting to see how a family worked together. I do wish the author would have explained more about the winters and how they survived during that time. Loved the pictures as they added a lot.
March 3, 2022
This book was discussed on the WTM forums and I added it to my TBR. It is a good little book, entertaining in a rustic, frontier sort of way. Made me long for the simple life my husband and I dream about.
January 19, 2020
Really enjoyed. I purchased this book on my second trip to Alaska in 2006 and have returned several times but never to the Aleutians, maybe someday. Just finished Dear Cora the sequel to this book.
June 19, 2024
A fun read with real-world Alaskan adventure. And an impressive look into a remote lifestyle beyond comprehension.
August 15, 2014
I read many books about Alaska, but this is the first one I've read about a family living on Unalaska, an island in the Aleutian Islands chain. I had mistakenly believed that the Aleutian weather was too harsh and inhospitable for ranch living or much of anything, but this story enlightened me. The Aleutians actually have mild winters, and cool summers, which makes them perfect for grazing animals.
Cora (a former nurse) and her two sons move to a ranch on Chernofski Island so that Cora can be the bookkeeper for a rancher there. The two eventually marry, and Milt (the rancher) helps raise the boys as the family works together to sheer sheep, round up cattle, and store the local crabber's pots/traps in the off season. The boys are home schooled, and the family lives with a generator for lighting and a coal stove for cooking and heat. They only receive mail a few times per year, groceries once every year or two, and any illness or injury that requires a doctor's care means a long boat or airplane journey. The story takes place in the 1970s, long before the Internet or satellite TV, so they rely on books, magazines, letters from home, board games and conversation for their entertainment. Their only contacts with the outside world are the occasional boats that call, and a radio that gives them weather and news. Despite the isolation and hard work, the family loves their ranch and rises to each challenge. The book follows a year or so in their lives, bringing the reader along on cattle drives and fishing expeditions.
I really enjoyed this book, which was released by Reiman Publications - best known for "A Taste of Home" and "Farm And Ranch Living" magazines. The book is full of beautiful pictures of the ranch, the animals, the sea, and of course Cora and her family. I am going to check to see if Cora has written any other books to cover the years since this one was written.
Cora (a former nurse) and her two sons move to a ranch on Chernofski Island so that Cora can be the bookkeeper for a rancher there. The two eventually marry, and Milt (the rancher) helps raise the boys as the family works together to sheer sheep, round up cattle, and store the local crabber's pots/traps in the off season. The boys are home schooled, and the family lives with a generator for lighting and a coal stove for cooking and heat. They only receive mail a few times per year, groceries once every year or two, and any illness or injury that requires a doctor's care means a long boat or airplane journey. The story takes place in the 1970s, long before the Internet or satellite TV, so they rely on books, magazines, letters from home, board games and conversation for their entertainment. Their only contacts with the outside world are the occasional boats that call, and a radio that gives them weather and news. Despite the isolation and hard work, the family loves their ranch and rises to each challenge. The book follows a year or so in their lives, bringing the reader along on cattle drives and fishing expeditions.
I really enjoyed this book, which was released by Reiman Publications - best known for "A Taste of Home" and "Farm And Ranch Living" magazines. The book is full of beautiful pictures of the ranch, the animals, the sea, and of course Cora and her family. I am going to check to see if Cora has written any other books to cover the years since this one was written.
January 23, 2016
I really admire what Cora did. Taking such a leap of faith is something most of us only dream about. She not only made it work for her and her two sons, but thrived in her new life. Kudos. The book though, is a bit hard to get through. I think if it had been written as a reminiscence I would have enjoyed it more. But, the real time dialogue was not written well enough to compel me.
May 2, 2013
Interesting book about a family who moved from Boise to Alaska and live in a very remote, lonely area.
April 20, 2015
Read this book in 1994. Great story.
April 9, 2016
a very different life. Fascinating
February 16, 2015
Needs more Peep-Sheep.
April 26, 2017
Quick and interesting story of a family and their adventures in remote Alaska. Well written and inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews