While beginning my column, I wanted to start by thanking all of you who took the time to either call or contact me during my recovery after my stroke and surgery. All is going well and I am back to riding my mountain bike, golfing, and working around the ranch. I was very blessed to have caught the warning signs early and get proper medical attention. It is not a good time to be going to a doctor’s office let alone a hospital for surgery. So far, so good and hopefully the follow-up visits will be easier. Again, thanks to the roping family for all of the correspondence this past six weeks.
While I was under the weather, Steph Anderson and Jenny Vasquez did their usual great job of holding down the fort at Ropers Sports News as always. Justin Andrade was good enough to come down from Oregon and spend some time at the ranch and make sure I didn’t overdo things after my surgery. Aaron Semas came by for a couple of days to lighten the nursing duties of Justin. I’m not sure that was a good idea having him and Justin together as they reminisced way too much of the good old times we used to have fishing on the Klamath River and all of the whitewater trips around the country. Stories of John “Hot Dog” McDonald and all of our flying years and some not so pleasant plane rides. RIP Hot Dog. Thanks to all of the other generous and caring friends who provided food and rides during my healing period.
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Well, to say that times are different these days would be a little bit understated as none of us have ever witnessed something quite like the past six months. I am glad to see that many of the ropings and rodeos have been so successful lately. I was so pleased to see the success of the Wrangler BFI and the whole BFI Week. I have always been overly fond of the great Lazy E complex and was so glad that the BFI was able to use that great facility after they found out that Reno was not going to happen.
I was saddened to not make this year’s BFI due to my stroke, but watched it on the Wrangler Network and was upset that now Mike Beers has been to more BFI’s than I have. I will try and outlast him in the years to come to take over the record. It was a hard decision not to go to Oklahoma but my doctors were not fond of me going at all. My thanks to Dr. Pat Johnson who is a Cowboy and knows the Cowboy Way, for guiding me in the right direction making the decision to go or no to go.
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A special thanks to all of the people connected to the BFI for making it happen this year. The Ullman/Peterson team has gone above and beyond in some strange times to keep up a fine tradition. Also, thanks to the Lazy E Arena for stepping up during these trying times to provide their fine facilities to host many events these past months.
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Now let’s talk about how this year has been since March. It has been anything but “The Norm.” I continue to think about folks I know in the rodeo and roping business that are faced with the hard task of having livestock on hand and not being able to use them. The feed bills keep coming in regardless, as do the vet bills along with labor. Every morning I turn on the news, hopefully to see that this is going to turn around and we will maybe get on a recovery mode. Of course that has not happened to this point and I for one don’t see it happening in the near future. It is very sad to see our great country so divided at this time. I hope that the good ole boy theory will kick in sometime soon.
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Congratulations to those of you that continue to rope and travel to the ropings and rodeos. And my Resistol is off to the producers of these events as it isn’t easy during these times. With all of us sticking together maybe we can overcome all of this mess and continue on. For those of you traveling to the competitions, may you travel safe and have success in your competition. Be safe and use proper hygiene and social distancing while on the road. Always double-check on events prior to your departure as things are very much subject to change right up until the last minute with regulations outside of the hands of the producers.
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I was saddened to hear of the passing of Mike Lucke who was past president of Reno Rodeo. Mike was a great supporter of the BFI for many years and very much devoted his life to rodeo activities. RIP Amigo.