BH: Um, were there any leisure time activities that you remember, like dances. . .
Bob: Well, everything was in—the ranch was self-sufficient, and um, the
Zapata—we didn't have anything. The north end of the long building—I
call it the Martinez house, I don't know what is a better description, at this
point—but the north end was the bunkhouse. And, ah, in the middle was a
table, you know, just like you'd see in the movies. An old wood table with chairs,
and a kerosene lamp-we had to generate our own electricity. And the generator
was in the garage, but we didn't run the generator any more than we had to,
because there wasn't any gasoline. So we used—we lived a pioneer life.
We had to use kerosene lamps. When Fred would have a man or two—usually
just one—I can't ever remember two men—just one other guy—would
sleep in the bunkhouse, and the only thing that we would do, at night, we would
play um cards. And we'd play um—five card stud. There was some game with
a ten of diamonds, I don't remember what it was. But that's about the only think
of at the Zapata. Now at the Medano, it was a little different, because, this
is something you should know. Up until World War II, all the employees were
single. So understand the operation of a ranch—you see a whole different
picture when you see the headquarters was a self-contained unit, with everybody
there. The kitchen, the dining room, everybody ate at a table that went from
here to the picture, the wall. And then there was a hallway into the bunkhouse.
And in the bunkhouse there were four rooms-two up and two down. They were all
single. The cook was frequently married—it was a woman. And most of them
that I remember were women—I have pictures.
Um—they had a husband who was usually the chore boy, and they had a little
house for them. And then on the corner of the house—was—the foreman
was frequently married. And then, of course, my uncle Howard, and Doris, and
the three kids were over in the main ranch house. All the entertainment was
built in, and ah, in the evenings, we would have-we'd have fun around the horse
tank—the stock tank there in the yard. Um—we'd, we'd frequently have
water fights, and things like that—where the men would try to dunk us in,
and then we'd use our hats and throw water—stuff like kids would do. Kind
of kid stuff.
BH: Sounds like fun.
Bob: Well, it was. But it was recreation. And occasionally, we'd go on a weekend ride. Not very much, cause usually—see that meant wrangling the horses, and saddling and everything. So we didn't ride that much on the weekends—it was all—in certain seasons we did it all the time anyway. And it's be like the postman going for a walk, you know. You know. So the main recreation was the Hooper swimming pool—the hot water pool.
BH: Did you go over there very often?
Bob: Every Saturday night, we usually went there, because if we didn't, where would you shower. We didn't. We had those—what do you call em?
BH: Galvanized tubs?
Bob: Yes! We had a galvanized tub, and the chore boy would have to go into the kitchen, with buckets of hot water, and he'd bring it into the bunkhouse, and we had to ah, use the—use the tub. And then he'd have to go get some more and rinse us off. And then he'd have to take it out and dump it, out in front there.
BH: Lot of work.
Bob: Lot of work. But luckily the ah-swimming pool was naturally heated—it
was a hot swimming pool in Hooper.