A Big Star in a Small Town

        We get some mighty impressive stars out here in the West---anybody can tell you that. But who’da thought a little old town like Parshall, Colorado could attract one of the biggest Western stars around? Award-winning Western music entertainer Juni Fisher first started making tour stops at the Bar Lazy J several years ago, and we are honored to have become one of her favorite ranches to play. She has become a dear friend and now plans her performances around a little R&R time at the ranch in between the dates she plays, much to the delight of Jerry and Cheri and the rest of the staff.

        Juni’s accomplished a lot for women in the Western Music world.  Her list of awards is impressive! Just to give you an idea……

2005 Academy of Western Female Vocalist of the Year,
2005 WMA* Crescendo Award (*Western Music Association)
2006 WMA Female Performer of the Year
2007 WMA Song of the Year
2008 WMA Songwriter of the Year
2008 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Wrangler Award
(Outstanding Album) (first female in Heritage Museum history to win)
2009 WMA Female Performer of the Year,
2009 WMA Album of the Year
2011 WMA Female Performer of the Year
2011 WMA Song of the Year
2011 WMA Entertainer of the Year (first female ever to win)

         And besides her fine music abilities, she’s also an avid fly-fisherwoman and loves competitive cow horse reining . So she was sure ready to get out and enjoy the trail with us!

Where’d she go?…..Darn paparazzi……

 

Cheri and Juni!

“That’s What Cowgirl Friends Are For”

 

         And even though she’s only here for a short time and has now made her way to her next destination, we still think of her several times a week.  In fact, ALL of our guests do! Juni’s most recent (amazing) album features songs celebrating 100 years of the Pendleton Round-Up: one of the longest-running rodeos there is. The songs make you feel like you’re right there with the contestants and the entire cd is a beautiful masterpiece. And the title of the album is the title of one of our favorite songs.

 

  You can see she proudly displays (and lives by!) that anthem as she travels from state to state performing for both large and smaller, more intimate crowds.

        So when we asked her if we could add that saying (slightly modified…) in front of our new zip line platform, she couldn’t have been more honored!

         Now, a couple dozen times a week, you can hear our guests shouting those words as they take the plunge off our zip line platform. And what a treat it is to be able to think of Juni every time! We look forward to her return next summer when she, too, can “Let ‘Er Zip!” Thank you Juni!  Sending much love from your Bar Lazy J family! Until next time!

It’s Elect-ric-a

        Things got a bit…uhhh…. “charged” around the ranch recently you might say. As afternoon rides went on hold waiting for a storm to pass one day, a dramatic bolt of lightning hit a tall tree directly between Wayne’s Washroom and the barn. As wood and leaves flew through the air, both guests and staff alike said they could feel it from all directions on the ranch. But one person felt it more-so than others…

        

        Electra has been with us for several seasons—working on crew and part-time as a wrangler as well. But this particular afternoon she was folding laundry in the Washroom—just yards from where the lightning struck. The surge of energy through the ground and surroundings actually exploded the light bulb above her head! Combine that with the sound of the lightning hitting just outside and talk about a scare! She came tearing out of that laundry room like…well…..someone who thought they were gonna be struck by lightning no doubt!  Check out the path of that lightning bolt. It runs from top to bottom!

        Needless to say, we are grateful for many things, including the fact that there were no fire-starting sparks created during the strike. But most importantly, no one was hurt—especially our sweet Electra!

Or now should we say….. “Elect-ric-a”?

Flight School 101

DAY 1!

As you well know, we got the zip line installed, so all we lacked were some certified operators so we could get to running it!

          So on Sunday morning, six brave souls headed out to start their 2-day course to become just that—who knew “school” could be so fun? But then again, I think with these classmates, they could’ve made even Calculus fun (Is that exaggerating? I didn’t say “easier” mind you, I just said “fun”. Let’s clarify that right here and now.)  A professional team flew in from North Carolina to offer the training and our first day began with a trip to Drowsy Water Ranch—good friends of ours who simultaneously installed zip lines on their ranch by the same company from NC. So we combined our training days which allowed us to teach and learn from one another as we went. Our friends at Drowsy were already on day 2 of their training, so we got to be their “dummies” so-to-speak under the watchful eye of our trainers. They were fantastic and we all found ourselves quickly learning “the ropes” (figuratively and literally). Not to mention, we had SO. MUCH.  FUN.

As you can see…….

             …………….here we are getting harnessed up!

Then it was up to the practice zip where we got all the instruction on what to expect and what to do with ourselves. (Our excitement was building...)

 

And then??

Cheri!

Jerry!

Chad!

Dale!

  Sue!

and Tammy!

We zipped and zipped (and zipped some more) and instead of wearing us out, it got us hooked. After a long (awesome) day,

     

we couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch for Day 2 of training on our own zip line!

DAY 2!

After stellar teaching and demonstrations the day before, our second day of training was a breeze.

First things first—putting on and adjusting harnesses: and don’t joke about making any mistakes, cause your partner got to suit you up next!

 

Then it was up to the top and our own practice zip line. (And we may or may not have laughed at one another’s helmets during the drive.)

        Just like our horse program, safety comes first. We were quite impressed by all the cutting edge equipment and first-rate safety procedures used throughout the entire process. If you could call something “over-cautious”, this would be it—and we mean that in a very positive way. One of those times, you can’t have too much of a good thing!

    

Then it was time for our test runs!

   

        

You can thank Jerry for doing a little tree trimming on his run down the line…… Now Dale won’t have to climb up there and make Pete do it and do it himself! Thanks Jerry! Very thoughtful!

We’d like to thank our wonderful instructors for their mighty fine teaching and getting us all certified. Most fun we ever had in school! (Oh and please don’t let the alarming shortage of people in this photo….uhhh….alarm you. This is no way an indication of survivors. Just the photo-ready ones!)

     

So……..

—drum roll please--

the Bar Lazy J River Zip is officially operating!!

Let the zipping begin!

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!