Watermelon Festival 2008

Today, June 21st was the 58th Annual Watermelon Festival Parade. There were queens, Grand Marshalls, Volunteers, and because of the election year....politicians, politicians and politicians!

Dean drove the little car, and the Grand Marshall, his wife, two kids, his mama and a few extra nieces and nephews. I don't know how they all got in there, but they became a close knit group. For those of you who do not recognize Super Bowl cornerback for the New York Giants, Sam Madison, he is a local football hero, former 4X Pro Bowler with the Miami Dolphins, who was the Grand Marshall for the parade. Dean says his Super Bowl ring was huge.

This is our Altrusa Float. We won for the best Civic Group float. Yes, that is me as the "Reader"..I got that position on the float for two reasons...after 8 years in Monticello, I am still the new kid on the block and I taught school soooo...I was in charge of the little ones riding. My friends know, that I intentionally NEVER taught below the second grade, but as usual, I learned a thing or two from these little ones, especially Gabbie, who is my new "Best Friend"!

This is Gabbie holding, "David", a snail she picked up in the parking lot before climbing up onto the float. For the life of me, I could see no snail, but since I had no glasses on to see, I guarded him with my life throughout the parade, while holding on to crawling, kicking, and hitting little cuties, who were SUPPOSED to be listening to a "story" and waving to their parents and grandparents. While we were waiting for the parade to begin, we were in the shade, so it was cool...as soon as we were in the sun for 5 seconds the little ones began getting a little grumpy!! Gabbie, started holding her head, complaining about the heat, and asking when she was going to get to ride the float. When I told her that we were on the float, she asked "But where is the water?" See parents?? Children don't always understand, even though they hear??!! I explained that it was a "dry" float...the parade would last a few minutes, and we could get some "drinking" water when we got off the float. Oh NO, I just remembered...I think I lost "David" ! :(

The next pictures are examples of the politicians with their floats, tractors, horses and mules!!

After the parade, I went home to pick up Dean, since he did not want to park the little car downtown. We attended the Children's Theater production, "Don't Trash Mother Earth". Many of the children in the production were part of our church family, and it was a precious show!

All in all, it was a great day...after the parade and theater production, downtown was filled with blue grass bands, cloggers, food vendors, and artisans lining the streets. In a small town, with a big celebration, food is cooked by everyone or anyone with a grill..you can get the best barbecue, fried fish, and of course fresh watermelon all over the town!! This evening, there will be ghost tours in the "Most Haunted" small town in America....And all day there will be seed spitting contests, food eating contests, face paintings, and music ,music , music.

For those of you getting "jealous", or just "curious"...the Watermelon Festival is held on the third weekend of June...The Lazy J has rooms...the "caretakers" may be in the parade...and if you get here early enough so may YOU!!! :)

College World Series/Father's Day

  Dean spent Father's Day without his dad for the first time this year. Adam called to wish his dad a happy day and to remind him that he is loved. Adam sensed the significance of this particular Father's Day and kept his dad in prayer. Thank you, Son.

  We spent the day wandering around the Old Market in Omaha, and finished up with the 6PM game at the College World Series. All in all, it was a good day.

  We met a couple, Lennie and Deb Risner, who were also completing a "Bucket List" item for Lennie. We just started talking to this couple from Ohio....Deb shared why, though they had no team in the Series, they were making this trip. You see, 4 weeks ago, they arrived in Omaha for a liver transplant that Lennie needed to save his life. A week prior to Father's Day, 3 weeks after the transplant, Lennie had a heart attack. This was the first heart attack that this clinic has had with a transplant recipient. God had them in the right place at the right time.

  And here they were, this lovely couple, smiling and looking forward to a College Baseball Game at the College World Series. Please keep them in your prayers, as Lennie has a long way to go. But Sunday, his children and grandchildren could celebrate the blessings of having him a little longer and for one more Father's Day.

College World Series

Well, I will be away from the blog for a few days...no my computer has not crashed AGAIN. Dean and I are scratching one more thing off the "Bucket List". We've always wanted to go to a College World Series...and we will combine the FSU Seniors' Bucket List with ours...Hopefully, They will be able to stay a little longer than us. GO NOLES!!
We will be returning on Wednesday. You see....we have "obligations" for the Watermelon Festival. At least, Dean's cute little car has obligations..Dean's driving the Grand Marshall for the parade..Last year, Daddy and I drove the former Watermelon Queen. The "car" has a new identity in this little town... Someday, it will be a classic, with low mileage and memories of parades and homecomings!
See you all in a few.........

Buster Posey's Dad

For those of you who did not know. Buster Posey is the best College baseball player for the year 2008; he plays catcher for FSU, and has the perfect baseball name. Echos throughout the stadium of " Bust One , Posey" and " Bust it out of here, Buster" have now become commonplace at Dick Howser Stadium.


I would like to clear up one thing, however, Dean is not Buster's dad!!! For most of you, who did not or do not watch ESPN College Baseball during this time of the year...FSU was playing and losing to Wichita State in the first game of the Super Regionals on Friday. Adam called us in the middle of the game to tell his dad that he had been on the big screen many times, and to have us ask if it was true what the announcers were saying, that " Mrs. Posey, Buster's mom was sitting behind us." Well, yes she was ,and so were some of the other players' family members...we had not recognized that fact until then.


Later on that evening, we got a call from our nephew, David, who told us that the ESPN crew showed Dean again, right after a rather controversial umpire call made on Buster's younger brother, Jack. (Can't you hear the crowd, when he gets to be a SR.? "Jack it out of here, Posey")


The ESPN announcer said, something like, "Look, even Mr. Posey is upset about that call!!


Well, we laughed and Dean made a vow, right then and there to control his attack on the umpires, just in case the TV cameras kept too close a watch on him for the remainder of the tournament. Of course, I wasn't the least bit concerned over the fact that they might not know who that lady was next to Mr. Posey...I just figured that they would think I was Buster's slightly older sister :)


The funny ending to this story? aside from my sister Margaret's new nickname for me...Rosie Posey... Sunday morning at church, a sweet lady came up to Dean and said, "Dean, you will never believe how much you resemble Buster Posey's dad. Both of you are tall, blond hair, and thin." She had to rush over to her husband, after Dean assured her that it was him on the TV, punch him in the arm and say "See I told you that looked like Dean on the TV!!"


So Dean had his 15 minutes of fame on someone else's time...Such a "Poser"!!


Now, he will have to go back in his memory to 1971...Ames, Iowa...NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships...50 yard Freestyle...championship heat...announcing the swimmers on Wide World of Sports...In Lane 5 "Dean Jerger, FSU" Dean had just picked up a handful of water and was spitting into the pool!!!!

Mars vs. Venus/ Scrapbooking vs. Hunting..etc.

I must admit, ladies, I took some heat from Dean for some of my comments on my last blog...First off, he says that a great guy will read your blogs, or listen to it if you read it for him, or tape it so he can play it back after the ball game, if you remind him.....:) AND, he would like to clear something up for all guys!!
We were at the ball game, today, and I was making my normal female complaint about the lack of parity in facilities at the ball park, or football stadium, or other such male dominated places..
He pointed out to me that guys have real problems with their facilities, especially at the ball park, as well. You see, there is no place to put anything down in their facilities....so, if you have bought your hot dog and then remembered you needed to make a stop...what in the world do you do with that hot dog?? AND the really embarassing part of all of that is..are you ready????
Everyone knows when that happens, because...you ivariably get mustard all over the underarm part of the shirt sleeve that you have stuck it under!!!
See ladies? aren't you ashamed of yourselves?? Well, now, at least you know why some guys just appear so messy with mustard on their shirts!!

Soul Mate

Today, I am going back to something easy. I have read the incredible love that has been deservedly heaped on your husbands...I just hope they all know how much they are loved! But remember, they are guys....they are probably NOT reading your blogs...if they do, they will most likely be so overwhelmed they might run out and buy some flowers!! So...if you want those flowers...TELL them.... oh, and yes, tell them how much you like flowers, what color, what kind....you know the drill....

The love of my life, my soul mate, Dean. No, I did not recognize God's attempt to put this wonderful person in my life. As a matter of fact, I tried to get him to date my friend.....It seemed perfectly logical to me...He was very tall, she was very tall..He was a swimmer, she was a former swimmer.... He had blond hair and blue eyes...she had blond hair and blue eyes...you get the picture, With a human heart, I looked at both of them, and thought that would be a great match.
With a divine heart, that can see the inside of a person, God consistently went about making the perfect match .

Dean says that he was sure I was going to ask him to the Bryan Hall ( my freshman dorm) Christmas Party ,when I walked up to him and started talking to him about the event. When I asked him to ask my roommate, instead, he graciously did exactly that. You see, I know now, that God had already spoken to him. We didn't know each other very well at that point, but he already knew?? I finally began noticing the hints at the event. The short, but extremely "handsome" guy I had asked to this event, wouldn't even get his hands dirty, as we papered our RAs' room. For those of you who are young and may not connect those dots; RAs were, I think the initials stood for Residence Assistants, upperclassmen who had a room at the end of the hall to "keep an eye" on us young girls!! Papering the room consisted of balling up newspapers...filling an area directly behind the door, so that when you opened your door it all spills harmlessly on top of you. Hey, don't laugh...we thought that was pretty rebellious!!
Anyway....Dean dove in happily and suddenly, I actually noticed this tall, blond hair, blue eyed swimmer.

I've always said that his height is what keeps short people from knowing the "Real" Dean. After all, the tallest boy I had ever seen to that point was another swimmer, isn't that odd? He was , maybe, 6"1"...Dean was 6' 5"...doesn't seem like a lot, but when you are 5'3"....well that is really tall!!

We went on our first date, the day after Spring Break...we spent the entire afternoon, after swim team practice, at the pool. Did I mention that he was a swimmer??
Did the fact that he wanted to dirty his hands let me know that he was my soul mate? That should have been enough, but no, God has been developing all of this over 41 years, thousands of fears, and millions of tears, both happy and sad. Soul mates are not our priorities, but God's.
As Lori put it in her blog...Sometimes priorities may be the same...and that would be an individual's choice. I believe that Adam is happy that we heard the message.... He would have been a lot shorter, with darker hair, and not much of a swimmer!! :)

Thank you , Lord for allowing me to see your will. Thank you for not letting the "world" get in the way .... Please let me see the perfection of your will in all things, as you have in the choice of my soul mate .

OK, all you bloggers....I started easily....showing off my grandchildren...cute pictures... beautiful creatures...full of love.... how hard of a task is that? So, I am taking a hint from all of your blogs...I will make this a little more difficult for me, I will venture into a deeper side of blogging, which requires, thinking and a higher degree of vocabulary than my thirty years of teaching elementary age children prepared me for...See, I already goofed...ended that sentence with a preposition...oh well, I hope that, even if some of you are teachers, you will be able to read through my inevitable errors in spelling and grammar to see the message. If you see references pulled from your own blogs, and I did not give you credit for them, I'm not taking credit for them, and will try to remember to put hose pesky " " around the words if I use them verbatim. Then you will all have to go back and reread everyone's blogs to see where they came from. Hey this could be a new game of "Tag"!!

Alright, you noticed that I did include pictures..that is my visual self, if I were more auditory, I would have included a song. The first picture is the best one I could fine right now, that was a good distance away, and does not accent the aging process...except for all those stinking brown spots...I've been watching my Daddy closely at almost ninety...if something isn't "sluffing off him", some new more grotesque thing is growing on him! Oh the joys of aging, not a good spot for sissies!

The next picture is me at age 5 or 6, it's been so long ago, and Mama forgot to include the date on the back! Cute, huh? This is the picture that shows how I truly see myself right now...no I'm not blind, yet! This is how I see myself in my journey with God. A willing, happy little girl, ready to listen and please my loving Father.

During my experiences at the time of my mother's death, I began "noticing" God's attempts to really get my attention. Sometimes these attempts were kind and gentle, the ones I've always had. Other times, they were painful, not so kind and gentle, and not so well received. The most recent ones have been like sledge hammers, but suprisingly not painful. That is because, I finally allowed Him to take control and I finally listened!!

At this time, can you believe, I signed up for a Bible Study concerning prayer...Do you think that was a coincidence? I did not do my first week's work, making one excuse after another. I don't have time ( or was it "not a priority" ?)and I can hear what others are thinking and I will figure out the week's work. This was not a good choice on my part, as He woke me up at 4:15 two mornings in a row to "discuss" some things with me. I know my walk with Him is maturing, because for the first time in a very long time, I actually listened and heard His voice. I know that my walk is maturing, because I can see so many events He is placing in my sight, that I know are not coincidence. I know that my walk is maturing because.....well, I will consider making a list of top 10 reasons I know my walk is maturing on another blog. If each blog is this long, they may start charging me for space..

I now know that my quiet time with Him must be in the morning??? Uh, I wonder where I got that? So now, I am getting up early, and spending that very important quiet time with my best friend in all meanings of that word.

Thank you Lord, for not letting me believe I had You in my back pocket, so all I had to do was pull You out and wave You around when I "needed" you. Thank you for not giving up on me and breaking through the obstacles I had put in between us. I now stand with all of Your children who wait on You. I might not be as "patient" as I should be...but I will begin today....and I will begin tomorrow, if I fail today...and I will begin again the next day, if I fail tomorrow...I will never give up , as You will never give up on me.

Grandchild #4 Ellie

Our fourth grandchild is Ellie. She just turned two in March. God has truly blessed our family with her addition. Though she has only been with her "forever family" a short time, it seems like forever.

Great Grandfather Bill Hall says a prayer for her every night...He prays that God will make sure that his family treats her well!

I know that she is smart and talented, as all of Lori and Adam's kids are..I wasn't sure I had mentioned that before.

When my sister, Margaret worried about the birth of her second child...my mother, who was an only child, told her that she would have plenty of room in her heart for another child. Lori and Adam have proven that point, well!

Grandhild #3 Flip

Flip...what can I say about this cutie? He has the sweetest smile (dimples) and can make you laugh with just that grin! He is the redhead in the group....and I don't know if he is a "typical" redhead, he just constantly keeps you on your toes.

He doesn't seem to get too flustered, if you scold him...He reminds me, in that way, of a second grader who had colored his duck on his worksheet purple...I was a young teacher, had no children, so remarked....is that really the color you want to make that duck??? His response?

"You don't like it? I like it?" One of these days, I expect to hear something similar, if I ask that kind of silly question.

Flip is a smart and talented 4 year old. Have you noticed that Lori and Adam produce a lot of smart and talented kids?? Flip is named after his Grandpas, Philip and Dean. I knew another Flip, in college. He was a diver for FSU and later won Olympic gold for the US. Lt. Philip Boggs.

I know that our Flip will excel in anything he tries.

Grandchild #3, Flip Jerger...All you little girls out there??? Be ready...he is a cutie!!

Grandchild #2 Rusty

Rusty is almost 7 . (in September) He just finished Kindergarten, with another special teacher...Robyn Decresie. Ah, Kindergarten...I once substituted in a Kindergarten class, covered the class while the teacher had an evaluation...it was the longest 20 minutes of my life!!!



Rusty's class is typical...energetic, smart, helpful,energetic, and energetic!! Ms. Decresie sent me over to the computers with some of the boys, I think she saw the fear in my eyes, and let me have one of the more peaceful activities!! Thank you Robyn!



Along with being smart and talented...seems all the grandchildren share those attributes..Rusty is a sensitive child, who likes to help others...as Lori put it in her blog, "defender of all things weak". Wow is that ever a blast from the past...He is so much like his father,down to his newly developed "smurf" collecting! Lori might check in his desk drawer, and see if there are collections of other types of valuable things.....gum wrappers, rubber bands, aluminum foil, gum wads...



When Rusty visits up here, he loves to go around and visit the cows, ride in his "jeep", and hang with the guys!! He is a great big brother, someting I am sure is father would have loved as well.



Next post...grandchild #3...the redhead!