Good morning to you this morning. We hope you guys are all doing well today!
I’m gonna’ talk about a very dear and special friend, who we lost 3 years or so ago. He was our neighbor when we lived on Lake Marion, and his name was Ronnie, but Deb before long dubbed ole’ Ronnie…”Turtle”.
Deb hung this handle on him because Ronnie NEVER got in a hurry! We passed him one time on the highway in his truck. I didn’t think I’d ever get around that guy!
It’s bad when you are driving SO SLOW, that even though you have your windows down…you hair ain’t even blowing! From that day forward…he was known by us, as Turtle!
Ronnie was one of those guys, who would give you the shirt off his back, but never was at a loss for words…especially if he thought you might be doing something wrong. It was times such as those where ole’ Turtle was at his best.
That man liked to argue….no, that man LOVED to argue! Let me catch up here, I’m getting ahead of myself…
Deb and I moved to Haines City, on Lake Marion in 2000. We bought for a weekend getaway was the plan, but shoot, I moved in after closing, and Deb finally moved from our home in St. Cloud about 6 months later.
Honestly, we closed on the lake house, and I never went back to our home.
What great neighbors we had. James and Jackie Dees, Willie Myerson…he usually came out about supper time every night, lookin’ for a handout!
There was Ronnie and his wife Katherine, Katherine’s sister Joyce and her husband John. Last, there was Tommy, or Katherine’s Mama. Tommy is 95 I believe today, and still a pistol to boot! Deb and I love that woman. They broke the mold when they made her!
Back in 2000, Deb and I were in our early to mid-forties, and everyone else was late fifties, right on up…and up…and up!
So, when we left St. Cloud, we had pretty much moved…to an old folks home!! Shoot, one time Turtle and James won a double horseshoe match. Once they had the match won their family run out with a 5-gallon igloo cooler and dropped the contents on their heads in celebration of their victory.
I thought it was Gatorade, just like you see them do on T.V., but found out later that because of their age, the cooler was filled with…Metamucil!
I came in from fishing one time, and there was 8 or more of them sitting on Turtle’s dock. This was pretty common, but as I was docking the boat I saw something that normally wasn’t there…a buzzard, sittin’ on the roof of Turtle’s dock.
I hadn’t lived there over a couple weeks, and I hollered over, “Hey, you guys better move a little. Pick up an arm, or leg, there’s a dern buzzard sittin’ on the roof waitin’ for the first one of ya’ll to fall out! Ya’ll are all getting up there age wise, and I just believe I’d move something.” They just laughed, but I still don’t think they realized the buzzard was REALLY there.
But getting back to Ronnie…
That guy was one of the best neighbors anyone could have asked for. Had a beautiful place, and maintained it to a tee. His wife Katherine deserves much of the credit here in this regard as well. Katherine was, and still is an “outdoors person.”
Ronnie was a perfectionist, and it was this way in anything at all he did.
He had a spot under a very large oak that was so shaded, it didn’t allow grass to grow. Ronnie found some shade resistant St. Augustine, and he was off. He’d gone to Home Depot I believe, and bought the plugs to poke in the ground.
Deb and I went over there and when we looked at his layout, I couldn’t believe it. Anyway you turned, all plugs were in a row…a straight shot. But again, he was like this in all he did.
Red and I were running a walk from our house to the lake, and once we got right near the dock, we noticed we were going to miss, “dead center” of the dock, by a foot or so. Red asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, “Let’s set em.”
Well, Turtle came over to give his stamp of approval, saw we’d missed center on the dock, and went to moanin’ and groanin’. I told him in order to straighten it out, we’d have to drop back, and take out slabs of walk we’d already set.
Turtle’s reply…”You ain’t started yet?” So, up came several slabs, and once through, we passed Turtle’s inspection.
Docks? Turtle loved his, and spent many hours sitting out on it and maybe drinking a beer or two. His dock was really nice, and laid out exactly like everything else he had…everything with its own place. He was a very good organizer.
He and his Daddy farmed most all their lives, and although I didn’t know Turtle while he was farming, I can say without a doubt, he must have been a good one.
Turtle loved my Mother just like she was his own, and boy we sure had a ball picking at those two…and they ate it up. We got where we’d tease Dad because Mom came down and stayed so much with us, but she loved to fish, and this lake was a good fishing lake.
We even built her, her own little cabin or apartment to stay in…“Ruthie’s Shack.”
We’d pick at Dad, Turtle and Mom, about Turtle and Mom, “messin around…” It really got to be comical, and again, all parties had a ball with the “accusations,” though they were only just that…accusations.
Dad called one night and talked to Deb. He asked if he could speak to Mom, but Deb said she was out in her apartment getting a shower. Deb said Dad contemplated this for a minute or two, then asked if Deb would go out and look into the shower for him…to let him know if Turtle was in there too!
I used to wear a particular brand of “decks,” and for some reason Dad just had to have a pair of them. Next time they came down together, he and I were on the dock, and I mentioned I’d seen he’d gotten a new pair of decks.
He goes, “Yeah Dub, but for some reason your Mama won’t buy the kind you wear for me. I’ve asked and asked, but she never brings back the kind you wear.
I told Dad this wasn’t true, because I’d seen Mom buy him three pair like mine when she’d come down. He then said that if she’d bought them for him, he’d not seen them yet.
I told him that was understandable. I said that when Mom picked them up, she had every intention of giving them to him, but for some reason, before she left to go home…she’d always give them to Turtle! She was givin’ Dad’s shoes away. He just died laughing.
Turtle would come over and aggravate my Mom to no end, but she gave as good as she took, and he loved this about her. Both liked to laugh and have a good time, and “ole Ruthie,” just might sit down and drink a cold beer with them as well. Those were some good old times…
Deb and I moved from the lake, and although we didn’t move 3 miles from them, we just didn’t see ole’ Turtle like we did when we lived next door. It wasn’t intentional, but everyone gets caught up in “your own thing,” and we did too.
Turtle found God, a year or so before his passing, and boy he lived his religion like he lived all else. Wide open, and very professional. It became a science to him. He studied it, and learned all he could. He loved his church, he loved his family, and he loved his friends. He was one of those guys, you felt honored to call your friend, and you were Turtle…my friend!
Deb loved Ronnie to death as well, and we still speak of him frequently…he made quite an impression on us both…
You guys have a great day, and God Bless. Think about too, how fortunate you are to have friends such as Turtle, and just like the old saying…Good Friends are hard to find! This is so true.
Deb says for you guys to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart.