Daddy

Well Eddie said to post something to the blog tonight for the first time. I couldn't think about what to say. This is a place to put thoughts about the past and the present. Things I remember to the best of my knowledge and would like my family to know about. The first person to come to mind to remember is our Daddy. You see, Lawrence Estes, wasn't just my daddy, he was our daddy, my sisters and I. We all have memories and they are different. I don't remember what Diane experienced with Daddy, I only remember things Daddy and I did together and what he was like as I saw him. Daddy loved us all so much and we knew it. He was a big man with a little boy inside fighting to get out and play. He worked hard, not minding the dirt, giving each day his best effort and came home to his family. We always ate at the table together at the same time each day.

He was a citrus grower, grew flowers, vegetables, trees produced nuts, fruits of all kinds, blackberries, watermelons. For a while he had cows that he milked. He loved to fish, fresh and salt water. He loved to hunt birds with bird dogs. He didn't hunt deer. He loved to cut up and make lots of noise, even at the kitchen table. He would take his silverware and beat out tunes on the water glasses and plates until mother made him stop. He told dirty jokes at the table until mother told him to stop. He grew vegetables and brought them to the house for mother to cook. He brought the quail he shot home for mother to cook in a stew. He caught fish brought them home and cleaned them and then mother cooked them. Everything always tasted so good.We always thought our Daddy was our hero. He had a truck that was dirty because he always took his dogs in the front seat or the back and there was lots of dirt in the grove. He sometimes took us with him,which was our delight. He always had something special to show us that he had found earlier. Usually a nest of new baby birds or a nest of rabbits. or some huge turtle down by the water hole. He has brought us home a baby rabbit on many occasions. Once a owl that lived in our bathroom for a while, eating raw hamburger meat. He loved all of nature. Once he built cages and bought a lot of parakeets from a woman in Lake Wales. He had nesting boxes and raised the babies they had. He sold the birds. The babies had no features and big eyes. He raised chickens for us to eat, turkeys, pheasants. He always had dogs-big dogs and kept them outside in big pens. We loved them all. He loved boats. He taught himself to water ski and us.

Daddy was a tender-hearted man. Didn't mind getting dirty, but on Sunday he cleaned up real good. He went to church, then we went out to eat and saw a movie almost every Sunday. He dressed up in a suit. He sang off key in church but he didn't care, bless his heart, he just sang real loud anyway. He was a deacon and worked hard for the church too. He joined the rotary club and worked hard for them. One time. he even cooked breakfast for my senior all night party. The Rotary club cooked for us the next morning. That was a little weird. But one thing we all knew, no matter what we did, he first checked the car out to be sure it was in one piece and then he told us he loved us. We knew he loved us. We sisters were a little wild sometimes. Not drinking and stuff, just fooling around. We drove way too fast. We lived 12 miles from Bartow and had to fly like the wind to get home in time. We always had to get home early-11:00 pm. I don't know how we lived through it. We drove 90 or so. Never saw any cops - probably going too fast for them to catch us. We just didn't want Daddy to catch us out late. Daddy took the family on vacation every summer, usually to the beach, sometimes the mountains. We liked the beach better - it had cute boys. Daddy took his boat and fished early then joined us at the beach. He always did stuff with the family. Once in a great while he would go off and fish down south with some men friends for a few days. He really liked doing that. Well, it is my bed time. Early to bed has sort stayed with me all these years. We always got up at 5:30 am. Type some more later.