Recipes From Chef Eddie!

Eddie has posted some new fabulous ranch recipes on his personal blog—including his most requested one: the Mango Cole Slaw! (One of my personal favorites I have to admit.)

On a side note:   I have to laugh and share a quick story about this special recipe. Several years ago, Chef Eddie needed to leave for a few days during the summer, so Cheri and Tammy jumped in to cover the meals for all of our guests. Now, Eddie is a “little bit of this and a little bit of that” kind of chef and rarely writes down his personal recipes, but he quickly did so for us as he was rushing out of town. So when it came time to make the Mango Cole Slaw, Tammy made sure to follow Eddie’s instructions to a tee, wanting to make sure she got it just right. Thus, although 1/2 c. of salt sounded like a bit much to her, she went ahead and poured it in and mixed it all up as it read. After the fact, her only regret while giving it a taste-test was that she was absolutely incapable of keeping a straight face long enough to offer Cheri a taste as well. Instead, she went running across the kitchen for the trash can to spit it out as fast as she could!! Much to the delight of Cheri and the rest of the kitchen staff. They then realized Eddie must have meant to write 1/2 Tbsp (or did he prank us on purpose??) and redid the whole thing in just enough time to get it out for the guests—whew!! (And laughed, and laughed…..and laughed some more at Tammy.)

SO! Go and check out the recipes (all with correct measurements) and enjoy! Thanks for sharing Eddie!

www.edeye.blogspot.com

Good Luck on Friday the 13th

So, Jerry and Cheri have been wanting to add some younger horses to the herd, so on Friday, we headed to Brighton, CO where a horse auction was taking place. If you’ve never been to an auction, they are a lot of fun—even if you aren’t buying.  But if you are, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the sale and bid on something more than you would have wanted if you don’t already know what you want and what it’s worth to you. So on Friday, Jerry, Lauren, Tammy and Shane (our farrier for years and years), rolled into the sale barns mid morning so we could get a good look at the horses for sale beforehand and get a chance to give them a spin and narrow down our best choices.

Tammy and Lauren were cheering for this one…… (Jerry wasn’t going for it...dang it!)

 

We then spent several hours walking up and down the aisles, checking horses out head to toe, picking up feet, and looking for less visible signs of things that might be problems later. Then came the fun part—the test driving! Can’t even tell you how many horses we rode, but this was our favorite part. Lots of fun checking out the different personalities and seeing what they could (and couldn’t) all do.  

 

In all honesty, there were tons of great horses. Some we knew we wanted right away, others we would wait and see how much they were going for—which would depend on how much another person wanted them as well. The two in this picture are ones we particularly liked. These little girls rode them around all day!

Then it was time to get our seats for the sale! Oh, but first we needed a buyer’s number, so Jerry went and picked his up. We were…uhhh…. a little alarmed……. and as we realized it was also Friday the 13th, we all had to laugh (and cross our fingers!) as we found our seats for the main event.

  Horse after horse entered the ring and as the auctioneer made call after call, the horses were each sold one by one. Some we bid on, some we didn’t—some we won and others we let pass--but when it was all said and done, we had three new members of the Bar Lazy J family to take back to Parshall with us!

And here’s the one who cost us the most! (But he was well, well worth it!)

Thus we have appropriately called him “Big Money”. Here he is settling into his surroundings down at the barn.

And introducing “Pip”! What a cute little mare!

 

And last, but not least, we’d like to welcome “Isa”! (Check out the cute freckles on her legs.)

And why “Isa?” you might ask…well……isn’t it obvious?

So there you have it folks! Even though the odds were against us, we have to say we had a pretty lucky day at the sale barn. In fact, we give these new guys two thumbs up!

  

Welcome to the family!

Back In the Saddle Again

 Much to her (and our) delight, Cheri was cleared this past Tuesday morning to start riding again. So you can bet, that meant she was back on a horse by Tuesday afternoon!

And that good timing made her available to lead her first Breakfast Ride of the season on Wednesday. It just wasn’t quite the same without her, so both staff and guests are excited to have her back on the trail.

So congratulations to Cheri on all her hard work! Anyone that knows her, knows her desire to be back in the saddle was a strong motivator on her road to recovery. That’s a cowgirl for ya folks!

It’s Here! It’s Finally Here!

Well friends, your patience has paid off!

We held off the announcement until construction was complete, but we are now thrilled to inform you that the Bar Lazy J is officially the proud home of a brand new zip lining adventure! Last week a professional crew all the way from North Carolina worked for 3 days around the clock to bring this new attraction to life and what they accomplished was a 1500 foot angled drop across the Colorado River from our upper pasture down into the valley. And when we say it’s incredible—that’s an understatement!

Here’s a peek at the construction!

          It started with a lot (I mean a LOT) of digging to make holes for the main posts—they don’t call these the Rocky Mountains for nothing! That’s Dale there in the Bobcat working on loosening up the rock. Then it was up with the poles!

          The next step was setting up the “training” zip area where folks will get instruction on the do’s and don’ts of safe zip lining. A demo zip line running between the two platforms you see here up top is where riders will get to familiarize themselves with anything they need to know in advance. As always, safety is #1 with us!

      

          Once the bottom pole in the lower pasture was set and secured, then came the task of running the heavy wire rope from the top to the bottom. And across the river meant…….SOMEONE was getting wet! Not sure those NC boys ever swam in a river that cold before, but they got it done while the guys up top unraveled the spool  until they got it to its destination on the other side. That’s some long, heavy rope!

  

Then it was time to winch it tight to the right height—it had to be just perfect!

 

Check out the view from the top.  The end of the line is on the far side of that bottom pasture!

And here it is from below—you can just see those top posts way up on the ridge. Now don’t fret about the “landing zone”—you don’t just run into this pole.  Although effective at stopping you, that’s not the plan. We’ll get to “the plan” in a minute.

 

“The plan” is apparently optional for trained professionals who need only a gloved hand to manipulate their speed on the wire. So as soon as the wire was up, they took a few trial runs to test the height, speed, and do some “hedge-clipping” (aka: tree-topping) of any obstructing plant material.   (We are grateful for that part.)

With a loss of momentum, he then needed a to be “ponied” to the end of the line. This made us laugh a bit. Looked just like the lead-arounds we do with the Buckaroos! (Minus the horse…..)

   

But once the lines were all set and the tension just right, it was time to build the lower “landing” platform and add the braking system (alternately called: “the plan” for not colliding with the bottom pole). After that there was just this one teeeeny tiny thing left to do…….

Give it a full test run!

And who else would get that honor, but Jerry himself! 

So there you have it folks! Our big secret is out!

This weekend six of our staff will undergo 2 days of complete training to become certified operators and instructors and then the zip line will be up and running! We are very excited to have another thrilling adventure to offer our guests here at the ranch, and while we are still working out the details of how we’ll be incorporating it into the ranch program (no—sorry—we ruled out zip-lining directly onto the back of your horse….we apologize for dashing anyone’s hopes), we still wanted to let you know it was here! We knew you’d be as excited as we are. It’s an adrenaline rush for thrill-seekers both young and old!

Now hurry back so you can give it a try!

Cowboys and Clowns

  

Doc is doing great! He’s the farthest along of the younguns we’ve been working with. He’s a looker too—excited to get him on the trail here sooner than later. It won’t be long now!

If you’ve never had an Oreo race, you’ve not  lived (or laughed so hard you shot tea our of your nose).

My only question is, would we consider this a world championship  if citizens of multiple countries competed?

Germany had a marvelous representative!

If you were a guest of ours last summer, then you may recognize this gal here, but now she’s wranglin’  much smaller stock!  Jess was blessed with a gorgeous baby girl just a few months ago and made it up for a few days to see everyone. It was wonderful to see her and meet her sweet new addition—so happy for Jess!

LOOK what we got! Two days in a row for a little bit at least (although none since), but every little bit helps! Guess our rain dance at the barn was better than we thought!

  Our Rain Dance:

What do you do when it’s hot (and there’s lots of water handy)—you start a WAR—what else??

So allow us to give instructions on the correct way to have a water fight:

Step #1) Choose a subject. Sometimes that person is a willing victim which makes your task quite easy.

#2) Pour water and laugh hysterically.

#3) Be prepared for the possibility that “karma” will instantly be returned by way of your evil partner with an even larger bucket of water.

#4)  Find a new partner and empty your boots.

    

#5)  Ignore everyone else laughing hysterically.

The kittens are mobile! And apparently camera shy as well. Just a couple more weeks and they’ll be ready to go into the kid’s program for the remainder of the season. Eddy is a proud papa!  

 

And their names are currently Larry, Moe and Curly—at least until their gender has been verified. Such cute babies though!

Matt Wince here has had his children hard at work panning for “gold” in the river. No vacation perks until they earned what it cost to bring them…..

 

.…we didn’t have the heart to tell him—just look at that blissful smile…..

We all went to the rodeo!

This summer, the typical six  Granby Saturday night rodeos were bunched into two weekends, three days in a row. The first weekend was over top our opening days, so no one made it, but this past weekend was the big 4th of July weekend rodeo (minus the fireworks) and it was a GREAT show! Great competitors, great friends and GREAT guests!

  

Tammy sang the National Anthem to kick things off and then Isaiah Wince, who’s family we adore, competed in the mutton busting and took 2nd place—so congratulations to Isaiah! Way to ride ‘em cowboy! (Must have learned those moves from our impressive riding program…..*ahem*.)

(Think we need to invite this guy down for a lesson or two, though. I mean, doesn’t he know you’re supposed to dismount from the left? Sheesh….basic riding stuff people—let’s put a little effort into remembering next time, ok?)

Oh and don’t worry—he was ok.  He landed on his head. Safest spot for a cowboy….. ha!

(A little cowgirl humor here….really he was ok!)

Now for those concerned about the bear….

We have to laugh a little. And let us reassure you--No, he’s not into the food. No, he’s not bothering the animals or the guests. And no, he’s not the prelude to a big scary mamma bear.  But he is : on his own and just a curious little guy who has delighted many a staff member and guest with a picture or two and and we believe soon he’ll be moving on where he’ll find a quieter and more fruitful place to settle. If not, Division of Wildlife will decide if he should be relocated or not. For now, he’s causing no harm and we respectfully give him his space (and keep the food out of reach!) Here are a few photos some of the staff have captured of him for your viewing enjoyment:

 

 

Cheri continues to get better and better!

She’s down to walking with just a cane now and will be back on a horse within the next few weeks. As far as she is concerned, it can’t come fast enough--she  has incredible patience! (And not just in the healing department—we’re also talking about the enduring of this endless photography……but we just want to brag on how awesome she is doing—so thanks for humoring us Cheri!)

 

Oh and the big announcement is NEXT!