Everyone knows that Grandma was not a big kitten fan. I’m sure Uncle Bud knew that very well. Ha Ha. That’s a good one. That was a topic of late night discussion for several of us regarding Grandmas love of cats at Heits Point this year. Not! But, it never seemed to keep her from having a good supply of kittens hiding in the fork of the old hollow tree that was between the house and the garden –somewhat close to 3rd base in the backyard. We never could beat Julie to the tree first to get a kitten to hold. Julie was mean when it came to her cats.
Just a thought about the game Andy Over –who was Andy– the guy the game was named for anyway? Ha. Another memory is, I think that you had to catch the ball on the fly to be able to go to the other side of the house to catch someone. If the ball hit the ground then you had to wait until your side caught it to go get someone. Many times when we were younger we couldn’t throw the ball much over the big house and the ball ended up rolling down the back side so it was easier to catch.
Does anyone remember the chicken soup Grandma used to make where she put all of the chicken into the pot except the beek and the BOK BOK BOK? I remember looking into the pot to get that great soup out of it and seeing chicken feet.
I love the old photos and stories. A friend that I got to know, Dennie Spalding, told me many stories of the Adolph and Teresa Sommerer family. He was a neighbor that lived were the Schellbargers lived, right? He told me how he used to go over to Grandmas and Grandpas farm and used his tractor to plow sometimes when he had his work done.
We keep praying for our families and we love you all. Thanks for the great link this internet site gives us to our wonderful past. –Danny
P. S. Can you all believe Julie is old enough to have a grand-baby and at the same time her baby is a freshman in college? I know I’m old but I’ll always be younger that her. Sorry Julie I haven’t given you a hard time for a while now.
Julie is the “Great Kitten Protector” of the Sommerer family. Every family needs one.
I never knew grandma didn’t like cats! I know she didn’t like when the scampered under her feet when she walked out of the house and was afraid she would trip if she stepped on one.
In my mid she had to do what they did in those days to keep from being over run with them.Now days you get them fixed.
I remember her marveling about her two grown up cats that had kittens about the same time. She said that while one mother was “out” hunting the other cat would mother her kittens and vice versa. They co raised their litters!
The best places to find kittens are around the foundation of the smokehouse. And the barn… both levels. I really liked when they were in the hayloft, hiding in that good smelling hay!
Now Danny you are I think 2 years younger than me. When my oldest was the age of your oldest Ours lives were so busy and hectic and chaotic. You are surrounded by offspring that question everything you do and think they know better etc etc. You just cant imagine the changes coming your way! Soon they will admit you did know what’s best for them.
That satisfaction goes a long way. And when one of them brings home a little one that is the spitting image of your first born your heart will melt. You will be so proud of the adults they have become. And you Know they are starting the cycle all over again and all the sleepless nights they caused you, they will get to experience with thir first born and it wont end for 18-20 years.( I almost feel sorry for them) Paybacks ARE a you know what!haha Enjoy the ride!
Just have to add this to the cat/kitten issue. The folks always wanted cats on the farm to take care of the mice, rats, snakes and whatever else they were good for (mousers). They helped protect the crops from varmints. What I remember is that they were never allowed in the house, however I think that rule was relaxed when grandchildren came home.
🙂
You kids may not know that for years the folks would get about 500 baby chicks in the early spring. To keep them warm they were kept in the kitchen in a cage on top of the dining room table fully extended. Every day we had to change the newspaper under it for obvious reasons. After a couple of months it came time to butcher the chickens we would butcher 25 or 30 of them on Friday, put them on ice and early Saturday morning Dad would drive the car to town and two of us kids and we’d go from house to house selling these premium fresh dressed chickens and whatever other garden produce we had at the time. Our chickens were clean and nicely prepared and we had no trouble selling them. We kept the head and feet at home and Mom would make the best chicken noodle soup. The wattles and brain were so good and I’d rather eat a chicken foot than a breast….unless you’ve tried the chicken feet don’t knock them.This happened during WWII. People had to have rationing stamps to buy meat and other things at the store but our door to door stuff didn’t need them.
So our family got by by being in the black market meat businness!
I dont think I could make anything to eat out of chicken heads and feet. Way to go Grandma!
Mother was always stewing and complaining about her cats, Mostly I think she was afraid of tripping and falling when they tried to walk between her feet. One day I got to her house, I found her setting on the sofa with a horrible looking, dirty, mangy, tiny kitten on her lap,(her holding a cat was a big shock to me)! She was trying to wash it with soap and wash cloth. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The kitten was not helping her, she had a hard time trying to get it clean, but she didn’t stop. I thought to myself, that cat is never going to get well and strong. The next time I went down there, the cat was clean,healthy, and Gramma’s pride and joy. She kept it in the house too. Ha. Gramma’s heart was to big to let that little kitten die.
When I was in school, we called the game “handy over” (hand it over) I think It was shortened to andy over by you kids. That’s fine too.
Warning! Warning! Julie….don’t read this!
One year at Christmas time I was helping wrap a present with my dad, (I was probably 10) We were wrapping a BB gun and I thought it was for my brother. Then Lloyd, Jr. walked in and I couldn’t believe my dad let him see his Christmas present, but my dad said….”that’s not for Lloyd, it’s for Grandma.”
Apparently, she had asked him for a good BB gun so she could shoot at the cats to make them stay out in the barn and away from the house.
I thought she had it to shoot squirls. That’s what she told me. But then she knew better than to tell me anything else!
You know, what just struck me is that…If I was 10, that made Grandma 84….we gave an 84 year old woman a BB gun for Christmas!
I guess we all hear things in different ways. I always thought the ball game was called annie-over. I was curious and looked on the Internet, and they referred to the game as ante-over, so that wasn’t far off. You ante in poker….so that’s interesting it was called that.
Dad’s BB gun backfired on him. When she got tired of the cows eating on her honey suckle during the hot dry summer. She would shoot at the cows if they got to close to her fence. It is a wonder one of them didn’t come up blind. They didn’t come to close to her fence though!