Bob and Zeta

Posted by HB Thursday, December 31, 2009
Years ago, my dad and his brothers had a farm that hugged the Colorado River in Southwest Arizona. if you could find it on a map, it was called Cibola.
They carved it out of a wilderness of Mesquite, Tamarack and Palo Verde trees. They weren't the first frontier farmers to land there.
Bob and Zeta Bishop (pictured with this post) were a brother and sister that had homesteaded in Cibola many years before.
They had a truly rustic lifestyle and were very reserved and reticent, except with their family and a few friends. My dad was a friend. As a matter of fact, he was everybody's friend.
When I was about 10-11 years old, I was with my dad while he was visiting with the Bishops at their homestead. We were invited to lunch. The house wasn't much but a wood floor, walls and a roof that had open rafters over the kitchen table.
Did I mention that Bob packed a .22 pistol on his hip? I can't remember much about the meal. I think it was fried chicken. I was more enthralled with the conversation between my dad and Bob.
I was completely mesmerized when, while eating, a big rat rumbled across the open rafter above the table. Without any fuss or commotion, Bob pulled his pistol and shot the rat. It landed next to the table. Neither my dad or Bob missed a beat or morsel of their lunch. It was like somebody had asked for the salt to be passed. No big deal.
After further review and introspection many years later, maybe it wasn't fried chicken that we were eating.

3 comments

  1. Unknown Says:
  2. HB:

    So was Louie Bishop Bob's son? Louie was the only one I remember your dad talking about. The one Louie Bishop story I remember since you were talking about lunch at the Bishop's place was when Louie had the visit from the county official from Yuma. He invited him to lunch and the guy raved about the meat and asked what it was. Louie told him it was Burro. The guy laughed and said "no, really, what is it?" Louie was insistent that it was Burro but the guy never would believe it. Your dad was sure it was burro because he claimed back in the day Louie used to shoot the wild ones on the desert and butcher them up and eat them.
    KM

     
  3. HB Says:
  4. Louie was a nephew. Neither Bob or Zeta ever married.

     
  5. Unknown Says:
  6. I remember Bob didn't like to eat zucchini squash ...he said it made him squishy to much....I also remember them coming out of the outhouse...enough said....i always had to take care of you when we went there...what a job

     

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I'm an apprentice senior citizen who can't wait for my old-man discounts to kick in. At one time, HB stood for Healthy Baby, Hunky Body, Happy Bridegroom, HouseBroken and Half-Baked. My current HB status is Has-Been. A few more Happy Birthdays and Hardly Breathing can't be too far away. Then, hopefully it will be Heaven Bound. I will keep you posted.

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