Jim: That was 1936.
BH: Was it? First year you started there?
Jim: Um hum.
BH: Huh!
Jim: So. . . so I didn't have to grub any more loco weed, but. . . but then I stayed on the ranch anyway, cause I had worked on farms and knew horses, and since I was very young. So I guess they could see I was a pretty good hand, so they kept me on. And I (unintelligible).
BH: What kind of work did you do?
Jim: Well, I. . . I wasn't hired as a. . . as a cowboy. I was just a ranchhand—and I mend fences, and I. . . mend fence, and I fixed fence, and I fed cattle all the time and. . . and I take. . . take good care of the ditch, you know, and water in the pastures and. . . and I ah. . . helped branding cattle. I helped brand, and I helped (unintelligible) and I helped drive cattle to the shipping yards in Hooper. Cause they used to ship from Hooper.
BH: Um hum.
Jim: And ah. . . so I done that kind of work and I done the chores—milked cows by hand, and separate milk—we had a separator where you separate the cream from the milk.
BH: Um hum.
Jim: You have to crank that machine by hand. . .
BH: Um hum.
Jim: And so I worked, you know. Then. . . I liked it. I enjoyed it. I liked the smell of the. . . of the hay and the cattle, and the manure. . .
BH: (laughs) All those fresh smells.
Jim: Yeah. I really enjoyed it. It was a pretty place, you know. Zapata is a beautiful place.
BH: Um hum. It is. It is.
Jim: And then when I worked. . . when they sent me from the Zapata to the Medano, I liked that because all the cowboys were over there. (Unintelligible) the calves, and the corrals, and there was headquarters, and ah. . . and everybody ate at the. . . at the bunkhouse. Even the bosses—the bosses and the children.
BH: Um hum.
Jim: And. . . and I had a table about from this wall clear over to there.
BH: Oh, my goodness!
Jim: And I know all the hands would set the table, and the bosses would set the (?) and everybody sat down.
BH: That's pretty neat!