This is Mr. M. O. (“Bub”) Eldridge. He raises crops and cattle (Tiger Stripe, among other breeds) near McAdoo, taking care of a thousand acres, mostly on his own. He’s 83 years old. So, what did you get done today, city slicker?
But that’s my question, not his; because he’s not the kind to talk that way. I met Mr. Eldridge earlier this week (August ’22). I was introduced to him by the Guzman brothers. He showed me some of his antique farm implements, including this horse-drawn planter.
The horse or mule that’s pulling it, he explained, would sway from side to side as they walked. So the men operating it, were having to constantly steer it as well, in order to plant straight rows. He marveled at the amount of work these men were able to accomplish in those days, using only the power of horses and mules. I don’t think he realized, that from the perspective of most of the rest of us, who work mostly behind a desk, that what he was accomplishing every day, at 83, was rather impressive as well. I told him so. He didn’t say anything, but smiled an acknowledgement.
As you might imagine, there’s a whole lot lot more to tell about Mr. Eldridge–as rancher, farmer, school principal, basketball coach, and also as former teacher of the aforementioned Guzman brothers. The decades since they were in the classroom together don’t seem to have tempered the good-natured jabs they still exchange today. “Like I always told Luis,” he told me, “if you’d quit chasing the girls around, you could make something of yourself.” To which Luis replied “And if you’d have been a better teacher, I could have been a doctor!” And so were re-told, for my benefit this time, these well-rehearsed lines of attack, producing only laughter.
More to come…