Sommerer Family Website

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Mahlon

Your chance to be the first to use a brand new outhouse!

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A message from Pete:

I was going to do a raffle at Heit’s Point this year for the EXCLUSIVE
right to be the very first one to use Dad’s (Mahlon’s) re-furbished
outhouse. As you can see from the pictures, this is no ORDINARY outhouse. It has a walnut seat and cedar lined backing from lumber that I cut myself and had milled.

Of all of our aunts and uncles and older cousins, I have NEVER heard
anyone say that he/she was the very first to use a new outhouse! NOW is
your opportunity.

Whoever individually, or whatever group of family comes up with
the $325 to put us to the $10,000 mark for Heit’s Point will win that exclusive right to be the first to use this outhouse.

That will be the good news. The bad news is that I am unable and MOSTLY
unwilling to bring the outhouse to you! Sorry.

Aunt Naomi’s Story (Part 42)

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The hill to the south of the house carried the most activity of any.  It was on that side that we would sleigh ride in the winter.  We walked to the spring, crossed the creek and went up the hill a way to pick up hickory nuts for mother’s ice box cookies.  Further to the east on the south hill we had a wondrous junk pile.  All junk (not garbage) was deposited there.  We had fun playing in it. Even further south was a wonderful wild cherry tree.  We picked cherries every summer and this was used to make jelly, juice and even daddy made some wine!

The southeast area was the way we walked to school.  Once we crossed the creek to the south we had a pasture and then woods to walk through.  We had to cross a barb wire fence when we got in the woods, so Mahlon wrapped burlap bags around the barbs so we wouldn’t tear our clothes or scratch ourselves when we crossed.  It was easy to cross if you were with someone.  One person held up the top wire and while you pushed down on the second wire, you had a lot of room to crawl through.  After crossing the “Goetz” creek at the edge of the woods, we had a pasture and then another fence.  This fence was made of 6-inch wire blocks and in order to cross that, Mahlon cut an 18 by 18 inch hole so we could all squeeze through.  There was an incline after that fence and then again pasture.  This was the area where we had to watch for bulls.  When we got through the pasture, it was a short walk through the woods to reach the back yard of the Oak Grove schoolhouse lot.  The entire walk may have been two miles, but I am not sure.

A stitch in time… by Uncle Mahlon

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As you know, we have a few memories from our aunts and uncles that we’ll post from time to time. But we don’t have all that we’d like to have. If you have any stories that you’d like to share, you can use the contact link at the top of the page to send them in. This one is by Uncle Mahlon, and it’s really familiar to me. It almost seems like it was published before, but it’s listed as a draft now, so I’m just going to go ahead and publish it again. We’ll teach it.

One time Cleo and I wanted to play ball but we didn’t have a ball.  So I found a tin can and put rocks in it and bent it shut.  We played ball with this for awhile till the sun got in my eyes and it came down and hit me on top of the head and cut my head.  Cut a hole in the top of my head.  Mom promised to give me a nickel if I’d let her sew it up.  It took three stitches.  I let her but I don’t remember if I ever got the nickel.

That was one of three times she had to sew me up because of some nonsense.  The second time she sewed me up I was trying to jump a barbed wire fence and I didn’t jump quite high enough and cut my ankle and she had to sew it up.  Three or four stitches in it.

The third time I was chasing a calf.  I caught it by the tail and it drug me for a ways.  I cut my knee.  Mom was good about it.  She just soaked the needle and thread in Lysol water to disinfect it and sewed it up.  That kept us from having to go to the doctor so often.

I was five or six years old and my namesake Gladys gave me a Santa Claus for Christmas in a box that had a pair of knickerbockers in it.  Both of these were my pride and joy.  I don’t ever remember having anything like that.  I still have the Santa Claus. The knickerbockers pants and coat I always wore to church.  I came home from church and had to go out and see if we had any eggs.  The chicken house was divided in two parts.  There was about an 18 inch square door between the two areas so when I gathered the eggs in one side I crawled to the other side and gathered the eggs putting them all in my pockets.  When I came in the house to take out the eggs, I had already mashed the eggs in one pocket to where I had all these eggs running inside my pocket.  Mom was a little displeased with me.  I just remember her saying take it off so I can clean it and that’s the last I remember of that.

But I don’t think I got any more eggs with my suit on.

The Silo Carousel… by Uncle Mahlon

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Now when Lolly was born she had a little problem and couldn’t handle cow’s milk.  So Dad bought some goats.  Now you had to have multipurpose animals.  They couldn’t just be milked.  So out by the barn was an old foundation where a silo used to be years before.  It was about a foot across on top and two foot high and it was round about twelve feet across.  So Beatrice and I would go out and catch these baby goats that weren’t very big and put them up on the circle.  Then we’d get up on the foundation and ride the goats.  They were our carousel.  Now we probably weighed more than the goats did.  But they took us around and we spent lots of days out there riding the goats.   So you have to get your fun where you find it.

Please, won’t someone draw a picture of this? Please?

Cracked up… by Aunt Bea

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A memory from Aunt Bea…

I remember down at Schubert we used to get company from Honey Creek sometimes.  One visit (I don’t remember who it was) Cleo was sitting on one side of the table and Mahlon on the opposite side.  Mom owned a beautiful bowl and I guess it had a crack half through it. They both tried to pull the bowl toward them and it cracked and they each had one side and the fruit juice spilled all over the table.  Glad it wasn’t me!