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CHAMPION—April 1, 2013

        Easter seemed early this year, but some reading reveals that Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25, since it is set to correlate with Jewish Passover and that holiday is based on solar and lunar cycles.  It was certainly a glorious day and the Champion Easter Parade went off without a hitch.  Out of state dignitaries and lovely local yokels made a fine showing.  Foster’s new haircut is startlingly short. One imagines a pint and a half of sandy curls lying on the barber’s floor.  Now his noggin is beige velvet and hidden from the sun under his baseball cap.  Kalyssa had the outstanding frock of the day.  It is one commissioned by her great grandmother, Goldie Krider, for her youngest granddaughter back in the 1980’s.  It features faced scallops and bows in a style called old-fashioned now, but so charming it has a timeless elegance.  Her grandmother has preserved the little dress well and the child makes it an adorable picture.  Two great aunts and a great uncle visiting from far away made the whole occasion very special.  There was great singing and heartfelt acknowledgement of the beauty of the day.

        Skyline eight grader, Tristen Shearer, has his birthday on the 4^th of April and his classmate, Mark Blakey will have his on the 12^th.  Next year these young men will be high school freshmen and the world will be changing for them dramatically.  The value of a rural school education is not lost on many of the people who live here.  Charles Lambert went to school at Champion when he was a kid before all the little schools were consolidated into the Skyline R-2 School Districts.  He has lived in this part of the world his whole life.  He is a great mandolin player and is often seen playing with various groups around.  He used to play with Lonnie Krider and Wayne Anderson whenever he could.  He and Zelda were at the Champion Grand Opening Celebration a couple of years back.  They are loyal supporters of the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department as well.   Zelda has recently had a car accident and suffered some injures including cracked ribs.  Her friends and neighbors are wishing her a speedy recovery.  They will be looking forward to seeing her and Charlie at the picnic again this summer.

        Linda’s Almanac has some new fans.  They are the Ava Garden Club and their member Rachel introduced them to it.  Rachel is new to the area and new to planting by the signs.  She likes the idea and her garden club friends, who subscribe to the practice, like the format of the almanac as it provides all the necessary information in an orderly way.  Rachel is planning a trip to Champion one day soon to collect the item that she purchased in the silent auction at the Skyline VFD chili supper back in early March. She is in for a real treat when she sets foot for the first time in the Recreation of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  Since she was never in the original emporium, the contrast and similarities will not be obvious to her.  She will just see a well ordered business in a bright and inviting atmosphere.  Business is business, they say, but Champions generally very much appreciate a locally owned and operated enterprise.  People work where there are jobs, but when it comes to spending those hard earned dollars, it is wonderful to support neighbors.  It is great to see the Drury Cafe open and operating.  They had a big prime rib dinner Friday night and reports are that it was superb. They are going to have a special menu and music every Friday night for ‘date night.’  Farmers and friends gather for coffee and gab during the week and it is another good place to get some news.  Bud Hutchison’s Trail Riders will be glad to have the place open again when they start polishing their saddles again on a regular basis.  No doubt the Ava Garden Club will check out The Plant Place and will enjoy taking advantage of all of Linda’s hard work to make growing things easy for the novice as well as the seasoned gardener. A copy of the almanac can be found on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G & G, on line at www.championnews.us and there in Norwood at  The Plant Place.  The 5^th and 6^th are said to be an excellent time to kill weeds, briars, poison ivy and other plant pests.  Then the 7^th through the 9^th will be good for planting root crops and extra good for vine crops and setting strawberry plants.   Some old Champions expect the first hummingbird to show up around April 23^rd.  The seasons are moving quickly.  The days are just whizzing by.

        The Caterpillar Company is a global leader in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment and a great number of other things that make progress possible around the world.  Building the world’s infrastructure is what they do and they are headquartered up in Peoria, Illinois.  They have been around for a while and back in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s, one at a time, the oldest and then the youngest of the Krider boys decided to leave the farm and go to Peoria to get a job.  Well, they got their jobs alright and settled in.  Before long Donald had met Rita and Harley had met Barbara.   They were city girls, neither with much of an eye toward the farm, but something romantic about Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, and city girls just got the best of the boys and they never came home.  Oh, they come home.  They have family, and property and holdings here, but they are held in place in Peoria by new ties and Champions are just happy to see them when they can make their way back for a rare and always too short visit.  Still, Champions can understand the lure of Caterpillar, Peoria and city girls. There are lots of songs that fit the occasion.  One is by Aaron Watson and it says, “(we are) Bringing together the better of both worlds, the country boy and the city girl!”  “Misery Loves Company” is one that the younger brother was heard quoting the other day.  Maybe he will take Barbara out to Drury on Friday for lobster on ‘date night.’  There will be music and maybe romance!

        A note from Karen Ross, Rt. 2 mail carrier, informs that recently her son, Mike Ross, came in contact with a murder suspect who was on the run from Illinois.   This may have been the guy that stole a car up there and then abandoned it in the parking lot of a shopping center somewhere in this area where he stole another car to make his getaway.  The news was reported on KSPR 33 and a browse through their on-line archives might fill in some of the blanks.  Look for an update.   Do any updating of information at Champion at getgoin.net or at Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or do it in person on the porch of the mega-mercantile in the heart of the downtown enterprise zone.  Someone said “I don’t share my thoughts because I think it will change the minds of people who think differently.  I share my thoughts to show the people who already think like me that they’re not alone.”  Feel free to share those thoughts in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 25, 2013

        Fierce winds blew the clouds apart in the middle of the night long enough for the soon to be full moon to shine golden down into the face of the sleeping Champion.  Being awakened in such a pleasant way made it easy to slip back into the comforting dreams of coming spring.  At daylight the winds were still howling around the corners of the house blowing snow in every direction not letting it stick anywhere. Though March is not yet over, the adage of ‘in like a lion and out like a lamb’ seems to be reversed.  Champions are grateful for the moisture and most are happy to acknowledge that the unpredictability of the weather makes this an exciting place to live.

        The wind has been whipping around the corners of Wilburn and Louise’s house up there on the high spot.  They have a nice view, but with it comes vulnerability to the wind.  Wilburn says he has seen some real tornadoes over the years.  He says that he and Louise are doing fine and are comfortable where they are, in his old family home place.  He is happy to have good long handled underwear to keep the draft away.  His grandfather Samuel Bradford Hutchison had an old sweater that he really liked about which he said, “It’s more holey than righteous.”   I.P. Henson, the Krider family and Wilburn’s grandfather all came to this part of the country about the same time back in the 1800’s.  He thinks they came from Tennessee or Kentucky, somewhere over in there.  Those family names are still part of the local phone book.  Wilburn says he has burned a lot of wood this year and that he appreciates living in a community that is full of good neighbors to help out getting in the wood and loading the stove.  He is particularly fond of Ms. McCleary, whom he teases mercilessly about her cooking out of a box and the density of the biscuits.  She sets the standard for a positive attitude and sense of humor and is well known as the Fashion Icon of Champion.  Her smile makes anything she wears just beautiful.

        In the middle of the 1960’s a couple of Champion sisters pooled their money and had a friend from church make a deal for them for a rose pink 1958 Chevy Impala.  It was a four-door model—a beautiful car.  They loved it and shared it for their purposes of going to work in Springfield and coming home on the weekends to help their Mother take care of their invalid Grandmother.  On one occasion the younger sister was on her way home and just east of Ava on highway 14 in the middle of a bridge had a head on collision with a local man who had already been drinking quite a bit that morning.  She was not hurt, but the car was never the same again.  She had called her sister at work to report the sad news.  Their next car was a new Dodge Dart.  Now that younger sister and her husband have a nice Buick.  On the way to church Sunday up at Strafford they hit some ice that spun them around 180 degrees and put them over in a ditch.  It was their good fortune to have a cell phone and a son-in-law with a big enough truck and the willingness to help them out.  That old story about having an ox in the ditch did not apply this time.  They made it to the service and home safely if a little roughed up for the experience.  The car is fine.  Most likely that beautiful Impala would have survived the incident as well. Dusty Mike had an unpleasant car experience over the week end.  It was a combination of unfortunate things that included a headlight falling out and a tire running over it and a road hazard warranty not being honored at the last minute because he had not made an appointment.  He had a few things to say before he went over to the Firestone store and bought a new tire.  It is complicated being out on the road.

        Skyline School students enjoyed a snow day on Friday as did everyone in the area.  The deep white stuff was just right for snowman making, wet and heavy.  The snowmen did not last long out in the rain and the only complaints heard about them melting were by the young builders themselves.  Taegan Peanut Krider made her first snowman and used daffodils for eyes.  She told her Grammie the next day that it was ‘melding.’ Local roads stayed open and safe and no significant problems were reported.   School is on again and Jazmine Barker is a first grader with a birthday on the 27^th.  Gavin Sartor celebrates on the 29^th.  He is a fifth grader in Ms. Ryan’s class.  Lindsey Fisher and Samantha Moore are both in the second grade.  Lindsey’s birthday is on the 30^th and Samantha’s is on the 31^st.  Second graders are an interesting group of people.  They are busy learning about suffixes and prefixes, how to add and subtract and how to measure things.  (One of them should go visit with the General who measured four times and got 25.5761 inches of snow over in Vanzant.)   A new friend over the wide ocean also celebrates her birthday on the 31^st.   She is an author, an artist, a fiddler, a storyteller, a great painter of penguins, who invites a crow to her shoulder to share the coziness of her candy apple red/pink hair and has been heard to say, “Oooo, I like a little draft.”  People accustomed to living in two or three hundred year old houses learn to like a wee draft.  She makes chocolate covered ginger and makes people smile-happy to know her.  So, Edina!  A braw happy day to Scotia’s darlin lass!

        Contemporary songwriter Dillon Bustin wrote, “Oh my friends it’s springtime again.  Buds are swelling on every limb.  The peepers do call, small birds do sing and my thoughts return to gardening.”  The 29^th and 30^th will be good days to apply organic fertilizer to the garden.  From the 27^th through the 30^th Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that it will be a favorable time for planting root crops, fine for sowing hay, fodder crops and grains.  It is an excellent time for starting seedbeds and good days for transplanting.  The weather is so unpredictable; gardeners will just have to gamble, maybe replant some things and certainly be happy for the rain and nitrogen fixing snow.  They might have to get ready for a bumper crop!  Share your gardening or bumper crop songs at Champion at getgoin.net or at Champion Items, Rt. 2  Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Come down to the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion and find some real Straight Eight cucumber seeds.  When you slice a Straight Eight cucumber kind of thin and toss it together with some onions and a little vinegar and oil and a pinch of sugar in a small amount of water and set it in the ice box until dinner time, you have a treat in store.  Looking at the seed packets will soon have you thinking about fried okra and your mouth will water just thinking about pulling a ripe tomato off the vine.  Optimism is Champion– Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 18, 2013

Sunday’s rain was just what Champions needed.  One of the TV weather people said the neighborhood is in better shape this year going into the growing season than it was last year.  Better is good.  Champions are glad and optimistic by nature so, “Let it rain, let it pour.  Let it rain just a whole lot more.”  It would be just fine with Champions up in the Northern suburbs if they had to go the long way around to get down to the store.  It has been some years since Clever Creek was too deep to ford there just before it joins the Fox.   There is no time to lament how it used to be.  Champions are busy figuring out how it is now and how best to work with it, ’it’ being the weather.

Kalyssa was surprised to hear that she had been on the radio.  She was not tuned in on Saturday morning when K. Z. Perkins from over at the community radio station in Cabool played an hour-long excerpt of the music and fun of the chili supper benefit for the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department back on March 2^nd.   K.Z. had gone around with her microphone that night and talked to several people and when she asked the little girl her name, the five year old replied, “Kalyssa, K-a-l-y-s-s-a!”  Maybe she will grow up to be a radio personality.  Ms. Perkins did an excellent job of capturing the music and the feel of the evening and of editing it down to just an hour.  Steve Moody’s tribute to Esther Wrinkles was moving to hear again.  It is always a gift to see how the community rallies around a good cause.  It takes a lot of work to make the good things happen.  The radio station volunteer spoke eloquently from recent personal experience about the good works of local rural volunteer firefighters putting themselves between danger and the people they protect.  Champions!  Jeanie Maddox had to be out of town due to an illness in the family or she would have been at the chili supper.  E-mail from her said, “I’m so glad the towel sets sold as well as they did.  I’m glad to share my talent and help the fire department for all the hard work they do and help with the expenses to do this hard work.  Sounds like you had a good turn-out.  We sure hated to miss it.  We enjoy visiting with all and hearing the music.”  Jeanne is making arrangements to put some of her handiwork in at Henson’s Downtown G & G.  She said, “I’m so glad that Champion store is still open.  I remember it from way back in the 50’s when I was a little girl and going there.  We would usually get a bottle of pop, orange or grape–many years ago.”  Jeanie says that she is ready for spring and warmer temperatures but, “that means mowing to keep up with!”  It is always something.

The something for Mrs. Elizabeth Mastrangelo Brown was her birthday on the 16^th.  That was Saturday and a good day to have a party.  It is always a treat to run into the charming Mrs. Brown with her warm sweet smile.  Myla Sarginson, second grader at Skyline School, was smiling about her birthday on the 18^th and the next day Katelyn Souder celebrated with her seventh grade friends.  One of those Champion Skyline Volunteer Firefighters has his birthday on the 23^rd.  He went to the Skyline School and had some adventures up in the attic behind some ceiling tiles or so the story goes.  It was a very long time ago.   A notation in the community birthday calendar that Elva Ragland is having one on the 23^rd turns out to be an error.  Her birthday is not until November and she is not anxious to be getting older than she has to any sooner than necessary.  She has had a cold but is starting to feel better which makes her Champion friends happy.   She had ventured out to the Vanzant music on Thursday night and said there was a good crowd there and about 16 musicians playing.  The ‘Elva’ whose birthday is the 23^rd of March turns out to be one of The General’s lovely daughters.  The lovely part comes from her dear Mother, and she has fortunately been spared many of the paternal attributes which could have represented stumbling blocks the size of giant opossums over which she would have had to scramble for success.  She has made it anyway, and is quite a Champion in spite of having grown up a Vanzantian.   A certain Ms. Pennington of Tar Button Road fame celebrates that day as well (the 23^rd), though some of her friends tried to start her party a month early.  She is a good sport though and would be happy to celebrate for a solid month any time.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a great program for a rural community.  It provides a new, age appropriate book every month to any child in Douglas County free of charge.  The program addresses children from birth to age 5 years and is an excellent way to get a good start on loving to read.   One Champion who loved to read as a child told her sister that if she would take her turn washing the dishes one night so that she could finish reading a book she was enjoying, she would do the dishes for a year.  Her sister took her up on it and made her stick to her promise.   That Champion still loves to read and now has three grandchildren enrolled in the DP Imagination Library.  Applications for the program can be found at Henson’s Grocery & Gas in Champion.  It is a free program for the community which has been sponsored by the Skyline R-2 School Foundation.  The Foundation has a mission to support the wonderful little rural school and it is a way for any community member to be able to influence in a positive way the survival of a great local institution.  Mail those donations to Skyline R-2 School Foundation, Rt. 2 Box 486, Norwood, MO 65717.   Some people like to give a one-time good sized chunk of money to take advantage of charitable tax deductions on their income tax, and some people like to give a little at a time as they can afford it on no set schedule.  Several good contributions have been made by residents over in the Hunter Creek area lately and those folks over there can feel pretty good about themselves.  They are Champions of a good cause.

Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood informs that the 20^th to the 22^nd will be the best planting days for above-ground crops, especially peas, beans, cucumbers and squash where climate is suitable.  Plant seedbeds and flower gardens.  It is a good question about ‘where the climate is suitable.’  These days it is anybody’s guess.  The days many are waiting for are the 27^th through the 29^th. Those are the best days for planting root crops and for transplanting.  That means that the potatoes will finally go in the ground and then all those wonderful things that are going to get done “as soon as the potatoes are planted” will get done.  Maybe.  Linda has some great broccoli ready to transplant.  It is the Packman variety and it produces a nice uniform head and continues to produce smaller heads throughout the season.  She specializes in perennials, and spring bedding plants and a couple of different kinds of bridge.  That is a card game with many, many rules.  A copy of her monthly almanac can be found there in Norwood or on-line at www.championnews.us or on the bulletin board at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in beautiful downtown Champion.  “Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain.”   If Old Fox Creek and The Clever are full to overflowing, a person will have to come into town from the West down WW Highway.  If you are there at just the right time of day, you can see that the sun really does rise in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 11, 2013

        The first day of the week was a good one to have started off with rain.  Champions do not complain.  The skies were full of lightening through Saturday night and wind whipped everything that would bend or blow away.  The moisture was well received.  In the ‘old days’ the creeks were running year around and the constant caution during severe weather was ‘turn around, don’t drown.’  Residents became acquainted with their local low water crossings and learned how to navigate them.  It may happen that things get to be like that again, but it will take a lot of rain.  Champions will welcome it.  Even Cowboy Jack has probably dried off/out/up enough to be ready for another creek crossing.  His trail riding buddies will keep an eye out for his safety as they take to the saddle more often this spring.  They are Champions.

        The Skyline VFD chili supper is still being discussed and enjoyed in the Skyline/Champion area.  Tim Scrivner shared another one of his great bird feeders.   Several builders were looking at it on the silent auction table with the critical eye of competition, and others out and out stated they were figuring to steal the design.  It is a great design.  People who have managed to win one of these beautiful feeders at previous Skyline VFD functions have discovered that the only trouble with them is keeping them filled.  The birds love them.

        The chili supper was also a chance for one underemployed, yet well quaffed, individual who lives way at the bottom of a hill, seven tenths of a mile long, to suggest, with his dazzling smile,  that any writer might benefit by ‘the’ fair and balanced view.  He registered astonishment that the correspondent had not yet provoked the reading population to violence.  (What he really said was, “I’m surprised that with what you write nobody’s shot you yet.”)   The fair and balanced view he touts so convincingly is probably why he is able to easily identify left leanings.   They are most visible to a bird whose right wing is over developed.  It just goes around in circles and to the left at that!   ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ is an old adage and, while it is indeed lovely to have like-minded friends, it  also a takes a balance of two strong wings for a bird to make any forward progress or to stay aloft at all, if progress is not the goal, which would seem to be the case in this instance.   “Circular logic,” was the assessment of one old Champion previewing this paragraph.

        Some Champions braved the threatening weather Saturday night and ventured into the county seat to hear music in the new Performing Arts Center.  What an excellent hall!  It is bright with very comfortable seating, good acoustics in spite of being made of bricks, and very sturdy as it doubles as the town’s tornado shelter.   The Ozarks String Project held a benefit concert there to help buy instruments for young musicians in the area.   The project got its start in 2007, with 12 students and now has more than 40 young people who are interested in making traditional music and learning about other forms as well.  Anyone interested in donating to the program or who would like more information about it can contact Barbara Deegan:  email at bdeegan@avabears.net or at 417-683-5450, ext.  136.  This part of the world has a rich fiddle history and needs to keep it going.  Ms. Elizabeth Johnston is taking fiddle lessons on an instrument presented to her late uncle Lonnie Krider by his brother Donald some years back.  Her aunt has given her the long time loan of the fiddle, and her dad has had it reconditioned and strung.  Now it is up to her.  Perhaps she will get with her young Tennessee banjo playing cousin, Dillon Watts, and get a good start on a family band.  Certainly practice space can be found in Champion!

        Bailey is the granddaughter of some Champion News fans who live over in western Douglas County.  She is a precocious and beautiful young sprite who lives too far away.  So often it is thus with grandchildren, alas!  Happy birthday across the miles to Bailey, and at home to Skyline School’s second grade teacher Mrs. Katie Vivod, who had her birthday on Sunday.   Tuesday is the birth anniversary of Geoff Metroplos.  Geoff passed away last November and his absence is keenly felt by his family and by his many friends who knew him to be inquisitive, energetic, and good humored.   His birthday is also that of music and art teacher Mrs. Jennifer Wilgus.  She is the force behind all the wonderful musical presentations at Skyline and it is easy to see how music can keep a person young.  The Ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15.  It is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BCE.  A soothsayer had warned Caesar not to go to the theater that day saying, “Beware the Ides of March!”  It might have been a good day to die for Caesar.  It was certainly a good day to be born, as can be attested to by the parents of Sam, Jacob, and Ursula.   Sam and Ursula both live in Edinburgh just south of the Firth of Forth and are both great appreciators of music.  Sam is a fiddler and grandson of Uncle Al, the Lonesome Plowboy.  Jacob is ten years old now.  He lives in Austin, Texas and is the great grandson of Uncle Al, the Lonesome Plowboy.  He probably has some musical bones in him that he doesn’t even know about yet.  The 16^th of March is Mrs. Helen Batten’s birthday.  She is the secretary over at Skyline School and does a good job of keeping things organized and pleasant there.   Happy Birthday, Helen!

        The 16^th and 17^th of March are both good days for planting above -ground crops, according to Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood.  Find a copy of the almanac there at The Plant Place or on-line at www.championnews.us or posted on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G & G.   The 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th are all good days to prune to discourage growth.  Youngsters, who have been neglecting their chores, sassing their grandmother, or otherwise acting out, should spend some time out in the fence rows cutting sprouts.  It is a good chore for boys about ten or twelve years old.  It is a punishment they will remember as having been awful, and as the years go by and they become adults they will remember themselves as having had to do it all the time.  To hear them tell it off in the future will be kind of like being around the stove at the Champion Chat Room on any rainy day.  Why, it is amazing that there is any brush at all left in this whole country.

        Send reminiscences of the good part of country living to Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion at getgoin.net.   You are welcome to spin your yarn of exaggerated memories around the stove at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  The establishment is located on the broad and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek at the bottom of several steep hills and at the conjunction of several county roads just where the pavement starts.  On your way there you can sing “Keep Your Hand on the Plow, Oh Lord!”  When you get there you will be in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 4, 2013

        It may well be that the buzzards have regretted coming back so early.  No sooner had they shown up than the weather decided to be winter after all.   Now warm days are wafting over Champions again and the snow and ice of the previous week are all but forgotten.  The cold wind lingered past its welcome but the days have been full of warm community activity and all the good feelings appropriate to burgeoning, latent, impending spring are the mode of the day.  Smiles are Champion.

        Smiles were evident everywhere at the Skyline VFD Chili Supper.  A hearty meal was followed up by a bright evening’s musical entertainment with cloggers and more music makers and jokesters.  The fun of the auction had friends bidding against each other in lighthearted ways and people, who only see each other at this annual function, were ready to get together with hearty handshakes and good catching up conversations.  Folks came from far and wide.  Early in the evening Steve Moody, everybody’s favorite Master of Ceremonies, gave a tribute to Esther Wrinkles whose presence was still very much felt.  Later, that spark of a live wire, Sharon Woods, got hold of one of Esther’s aluminum pie plates and conducted an auction for it.  It was just an old aluminum pie plate with scores of scores in the bottom from its many slices and EW on the back of it in Magic Marker.  It was sold empty for a pretty penny.  A coconut cream pie made by Esther’s receipt and baked by her dear daughter-in-law was the item in the silent auction that commanded the highest bid.  It would bring a smile to that dear Champion to know how much she is revered and missed by her fire department friends.

        A copy of the tribute to Esther can be had by writing to Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to champion at getgoin.net.  The KZ88 radio folks recorded it as well as much of the music that evening.  Many of the Community Radio Volunteers live in the fire district and are longtime supporters of the fire department and those volunteer firefighters who put themselves at risk to protect people and their property.  The radio volunteers not only brought some great things for the auction, but provided some good air time promoting the event in advance.  Volunteers in a community show that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts and these parts are full of some great individuals.  Champions!

        Dale Thomas was smiling when he reported having bought a three-quarter Napoleon cannon barrel.  He did not say from whom he purchased the big gun, but he has already made a carriage for it with his characteristic home wrought wooden wheels.  It is considered to be about a 4 pounder, which is the size of the cannon ball it can shoot.  Dale said those cannons that were involved in the battle at Vera Cruz were five pounders.  The old weapon will be on display and probably in action at the Pioneer Gathering this fall, but an invitation was heard to have been tendered by his cousin to bring his new big boom to the Skyline Picnic this summer.  This strapping fire-fighter has indicated a preference for loud cannon fire, having been disappointed by exhibition on the picnic grounds by another cannoneer some years back.  Ammunition was a hot item on the silent auction table at the chili supper.  It may well have sold for more than market value.  It might be that the reason for the high bids lay somewhere between generosity toward the fire department and the perceived scarcity of the commodity on the open market.  A number of people mentioned having taken the ‘conceal and carry’ course recently.  The General indicated that gun safety is a big part of the course.  That can only be a good thing.

        Larry Casey held the winning ticket for the wonderful queen sized quilt that Auxiliary President Betty Dye donated to the event this year.  It is a real prize and Larry will be enjoying it for years to come.  Larry was the winner of the First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest in 2009.  He generally grows Rutgers.  At that time he said that he had been gardening for seventy years, though he was only seventy-three at the time.  He is a retired welder and pipe fitter who moved to Champion about fifteen years ago.  In addition to being a tomato aficionado, he is a proponent of the purple hull pea.   These days he is busy gathering eggs and keeping the lovely Debbie Newlin busy.  Louise Hutchison is a fan of the Parks Whopper.  She won the First Ripe Tomato contest the year before Larry.   It was still too cold on Saturday night for her and Wilburn to make it to the chili supper and it is the first one they missed.  Friends will be stopping in to visit and tell them all about everything so they will stay well within the community loop.  Wilburn has turned into a real food critic and seems to be earning his living by assessing the hardness of the biscuits and the thickness of the oatmeal.  The delightful Ms. McCleary just flashes her winning smile and continues on with good humor and the bright outlook that makes her a real Champion.

        Skyline fourth grader Shaelyn Sarginson shares her birthday with teacher Mrs. Deborah Barker.  They were probably celebrating all week end and perhaps well into the week.  Mrs. Barker’s venerable old Dad came late to the chili supper.  His calendar is full, as he is actively pursuing higher education, so his time is at a premium and his many friends are glad he could take the time out to come socialize and mingle a little.   Linda from over at The Plant Place in Norwood always supports the Skyline Fire Department and her contributions were much in evidence at the silent auction.  She shares her birthday with her good neighbor Crenna Long from the northern reaches of Norwood.  There will be a surprise bridge game for Linda to celebrate and no doubt Big Bad Bill will once again become Sweet William for his Louie Crenna.  Linda’s Almanac is available at the Plant Place, on line at www.championnews.us and at Henson’s Grocery and Gas, a.k.a. the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  It will let gardeners know that any root crops that can be planted on the 6^th and 7^th will do well and that the 11^th and 12^th will be good days for planting above ground crops and setting strawberry plants.  A gardener just needs to make his own determination about his elevation as far as frost is concerned and also about what he figures the weather might really do.  Some say that for every time it thundered in February it will frost that many times in May.   It is a gamble, they say.

        Years ago the kids used to sing on the bus coming and going to school.  Maybe they still do.  Back in the late 1970’s they sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.”  Walk or run down to the Chat-Room in the Recreation of the Historic Emporium to chat more about the chili supper.  It is over for another year and volunteers are smiling in Champion — Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—February 25, 2013

          Champion is just the kind of place that makes a resident pleased to stay home.  With the help of the telephone, one could be comfortable enough not to ever have to venture out.   Then an old friend calls.  What could be sweeter than that?    Ruby Proctor called last Monday just to chat.  She said that Lyman was enjoying his birthday and that her family had been celebrating her 88th birthday steadily for a week.   They had enjoyed multiple trips out to dinner and cake and ice cream with big family bunches.  Her sister, Amy has her birthday within the next few days and the 29^th is her son Frankie’s birthday.  He is a leap year baby so he is not very old.  He just lives right across the field from Ruby and is happy to come and get her to take her to his basement when a bad storm hits.  He’s a good son.  All her children are good.   She has had experience with bad storms and is glad to have a safe place to go.   A look back through the www.championnews.us archives reveals a lot of interesting information about Ruby.   She was raised in Champion just over north east of the store.  She had three brothers and six sisters and her folks were John and Golda Hicks.  She married Mr. Proctor when she was seventeen.  There is a story in Champion that she worked at the knothole factory until she went to work at the doughnut-hole factory.  The knothole factory was the Cloud Toy Factory, which was situated near the railroad in Mountain Grove.  She worked there for a long time and then took a job at the bakery at the Town and Country grocery store.  She worked there for eighteen years, getting to work at four in the morning to get the doughnuts started and things ready to open up for business at 6 a.m.  During this time she was raising children and working on the farm.  To call her a Champion Woman is an understatement.   Ruby said that she had enjoyed reading Bob Berry’s letter about Esther Wrinkles in the Champion News a couple of weeks ago.  She and Esther were baptized in Old Fox Creek down at Champion on the same day seventy years ago this June.  She misses her dear old friend and remarked that she was so touched that Esther’s family had invited her to sit with them that sad day.  Old friendships endure in Champion.

         Champions will have plenty of good reason to get out Saturday when the Skyline Fire Department Auxiliary has its annual get together.  Hopefully the weather will be perfect for it (nice and chilly for a nice bowl of chili) and Ruby will be out with her family early to tour around the old stomping grounds before the supper.  The Pride and Joy Cloggers will be doing some stomping this year.  They are an energetic group of young people who emphasize the downbeat of the music with their enthusiastic footwork.  The dance has its origins in Wales and England during the Industrial Revolution.  The cloggers will demonstrate their fancy stepping just after the Whetstone bunch play up on the stage Saturday night.  It ought to be a great kick-off for the Spring Social Season.  There are a number of other bands slated to perform and there will be chances to win the handsome quilt made by Auxiliary President Betty Dye.  It is a queen sized beauty.   It is obvious that everyone who puts time and energy into making this annual event such a good time for everyone is having a good time while they are doing it.  That sentence reminds a person of the song, “I was looking back to see if you were looking back to see if I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me.”   Hope to see you there supporting the vital rural fire department that puts so much training and effort into looking out for the safety and security of the community.  It is a Champion outfit that goes by the name of Skyline VFD!

         Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 27^th and 28^th will both be good days for planting root crops.  The 1^st and 2^nd of March will also be good days for those gardeners who feel comfortable in getting the potatoes in the ground before St. Patrick’s Day.  Someone suggested using plenty of good mulch if planting this early.  One Champion gardener figures he has been planting his potatoes much too deep in recent years.  He is getting a little older now anyway, so it may be a good time to experiment with some other methods and save a little of that hard work for some other tasks which his amiable wife can help him identify or for taking a nap.

         A variety of information comes from the Thursday afternoon meeting of the Liars Lair at the downtown Vanzant Convention and Wisdom Center.   The first piece of interesting information is that such a place exists.  It is presumed that a bunch of otherwise unoccupied individuals get over to the venue early before the Thursday Night Bluegrass jam to get things (or themselves) oiled up for the festivities.  There was a great deal of misinformation and patent gossip about the Great Champion Gridlock Traffic Jam of the day before.  It happened just at the crest of the hill when an eighteen wheeler,  with a collie in the driver’s seat, found itself perpendicular across WW with some of its many wheels stuck in the mud.  Fox Creek Farms had its best man on the job unloading hay while polite travelers waited in lines in both directions for the chance to continue on their way.   It was completely civilized, contrary to reports from the Lair.  A special surprise guest speaker for the next “LL” meeting will present a program on “The Dangers of Preaching to the Choir.”  Not that many of the charter members have much experience with either, but the brunt of the program will focus on the difficulty in hearing fair minded, reasonable people disagree with the point of view shared by one’s fellows.  When they only ever speak with people who believe exactly the same things they do, the rhetoric gets more impassioned (inflammatory) so that anyone who might speak up with a differing view becomes some kind of whack-job.  It has always been the same.  Seventy-five years ago some local papers were proposing that the New Deal Monopoly in Washington ought to get thrown out.  Social Security and a great many local public works projects that benefited the area came out of it, but it was unpopular in conservative areas like Douglas County.  It was systematically being shut down by the opposition which many historians believe would have brought on another deeper Depression, and then, of course, the Country was saved by World War II.  It’s always something.

         Bonnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years caring for people who were in the last few weeks of their lives.  She wrote a book called “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.”  She observed that people gain a very clear vision at the end of their lives and the following are the common themes surfaced repeatedly.   1.  I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.   2.  I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.  3.  I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.  4.  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.  5.  I wish that I had let myself be happier.   Come down to the Community Chat Room and discuss the Champion life without regret.  This chat room is located in the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square overlooking Old Fox Creek.  You will be in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—February 18, 2013

        In Champion, Monday was kind of cold and blustery.  The temperature was not so low, but the wind made it feel wintry as it flapped the Grand old Flag vigorously on the porch post at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  George Washington was 28 when Robert Burns was born and so the poet grew up in Scotland much in admiration of the Colonial General who was successful in breaking the Tyrant’s grasp.  He wrote a stirring “Ode for General Washington’s Birthday,”  which included the lines, “A broken chain exulting, bring and dash it in the tyrant’s face, and dare him to his very beard, and tell him he no more is feared…They shout a People freed!”   George Washington’s Birthday was designated a national holiday in 1885, and used to be celebrated on February 22^nd every year.    In 1971, under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, it began to be celebrated on the third Monday in February as President’s Day.  Skyline teacher Terry Ryan sent out an urgent message Monday saying, “Why am I the only one at school?”  Then she laughed and said that it is a day that all teachers remember.    Postal carriers remember it too.  Some folks are anxious that starting in August, rural mail delivery will not be available on Saturdays.  Some are very excited and happy to have their own special family postal carrier home all week end.  As in most stories there are two sides to it.  Come down to Champion to discuss any concern that you might have.  At the very least you will learn the Bright Side of it.

        People born in 1945 became 67 last year.  So someone with the birthday 01-23-45 was 67.  This year they became 68 and so will people born on 02-23-45. People born in 1983 are now 30!  It is amazing!  The charming Judi Pennington of Tar Button Road fame is one of those people born on February 23^rd.  Fascinating Skyline teacher Staci Cline is another.   She will have sisters coming from far and wide to commemorate her day with her.  Pete Proctor had his birthday on the 18^th and his sweet mother, Ruby, has hers the next day.  Glen and Linda’s daughter, Joanna rings her birthday Bell on the 21^st.  A frequent Sunday visitor to Champion has his birthday on the 22^nd and managed to convince the fair Alicia to marry him on that very day.  He will not forget their anniversary and they have had a bunch of them as well as two gorgeous daughters.   Emma Evans will have her birthday on the 24^th of February.  She is a fifth grader at Skyline.  That is a Sunday, so perhaps her school friends will party with her on Monday.  She shares her birthday with a big sweet Sweede whose thumbs are very green and with a precious Texas friend, Margaret, who goes by the alias of Ella Mae though many call her Peg.  Every day is the ‘special day’ of 384,000 people around the world.  That is the number of people born every day according to the World Population Reference Bureau’s “2010 World Population Data Sheet.”  It also informs that 156,000 people die every day which gives a net increase of 229,000 to the world population every day.  That is about the total off all the people in Springfield plus four counties the size of Douglas County.  Happy birthday World!

        Valentine’s Day probably robbed the Vanzant Community Jam of a few of its players and a few of its regular audience, just because it was a special day for sweethearts and music lovers are, by definition, sweethearts.  Still, topping one of the many surrounding hills on that dark night, the lights of Vanzant shone out across the country with a dazzling brilliant invitation.  Inside the place was jumping.  There were musicians from all across the county and many a fine tune was offered up.  “Down Yonder” is a favorite and it was beautifully executed.  A lively novelty song by stand-up bassist, Sherry Bennett , “Five Pounds of Possum in My Headlights” was another highlight.  Ruth Collins ( ”used to be a Fish, but got caught,” according to a gentleman who seemed to know) did a fine job of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and the plaintiff “Wayfaring Stranger.”  Sue Murphy, with her great voice and mandolin sang several favorites and Norris Woods with his pleasant smile, sat picking away on the old banjo.  Other players came and went through the course of the evening.   The long table full of appealing pot-luck food and plenty of good coffee made it all just right.  Frances and Elmer Banks were there.  Elva Ragland said that Elmer has six extra roosters that he is going to give her.  She did not say what she was going to do with them.  “Elvie” met up there with her longtime friend, Linda Collins of Richfield. They used to live on the opposite sides of the mountain and they would take their children up over the top to visit with one another.   Now their children are grown and the two friends meet up at the Vanzant Community Building on Thursdays to visit–just like old times.

        “Elvie” said she might look around to see if she has some of her embroidered tea towels to put in the silent auction for the Skyline Chili Supper.  Somebody has donated a set of neoprene, nylon jersey, ‘Bone Dry,’ Redhead camouflage overalls with built in rubber boots, men size 8.  All stretched out they look like they are built for a tall man, but one figures that when the fellow puts them on, they will take the proper shape and look just right.    The year rolls around quickly.  This year The Pride and Joy Cloggers are going to perform between the band performances.  It promises to be a great show.  David Richardson, of Whetstone out of Norwood, will kick off the first set and is also providing his sound system for the event.   The Pocket Hollow Band and Calvary Mountain Bluegrass will be on the bill together with the EMT Gang out of Ava.  Every little rural fire department is a gift to the community it serves.  They are Champions!

        “Plant peas as soon as the ground can be worked,” says the package.  Get down to the Visitor’s Center at Henson’s Downtown G & G to discuss garden philosophy.   Sing, “Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing the noontide and the dewy eve…”  You will be in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—February 11, 2103

                Champions start off Monday with bright sunshine and a stiff breeze that blows in the promise of a nice week ahead.  Some Champions have friends and kin in New England who are enduring deep snow and looking at the possibility of an ice storm on top of it.  Things like that have happened around here in years past and Champions can understand the difficulties the people face and sympathize with their northern countrymen.  For those still not recovered from the hurricane, this seems like quite an overload.  Aunt Elizabeth, who spent time in Wooster, Mass as a young woman, would say “Oh!  Bless their hearts!”  

                Jean and Tim Scrivner have family and friends up in that part of the world, and their Champion friends hope for them that this weather is being an adventure rather than a hardship.  Tim is being called on as the Skyline School Foundation liaison with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to come up with more applications for the wonderful program.   Because the Douglas County Library has also become affiliated with “DPIL,” any child in Douglas County is now eligible to participate.  Henson’s Downtown Grocery and Gas has been steadily distributing the forms and generally has them on hand to get a youngster started on the happy road to reading.  It is one of the excellent services provided by the most pleasant little mercantile in the county. 

                One of the regular services not provided by the Historic Emporium is birthday parties.  Parties frequently happen there, but participants bring their own cake and candles.  There were no candles on the cake that surprised the cowboy on Thursday, however.  Modern bakeries have special printers that use food coloring to print pictures on cakes.  So it was explained by a staff member of the Richard’s Brothers bakery from whence came this tasty beauty.  It featured the depiction of a dripping wet, disheveled, bowlegged cowboy leading his horse out of the stream and “Over the Hill!”   The cartoon was probably enough to identify the septuagenarian—no names needed.  Another cowboy birthday card reads, “May your horse never stumble.   May your cinch never break.   May your belly never grumble and your heart never ache.”   What a sweet sentiment.  More happy thoughts go to Shelby Ward whose birthday is on Valentine’s Day and to Madison Bradshaw who has her birthday on the 16^th.  Madison is in prekindergarten at Skyline.  Trish Davis has her birthday on the 17^th.  She has been out of school for a while now, but when last seen was still quite youthful in appearance and demeanor, in spite of being married to an old, old man.  Mrs. Ruby Proctor has her birthday on the 19^th of February.  She is a Champion’s Champion born and raised right around here.  She sets the example for kindness and gentility.  There are some great pictures of Ruby and her family in the “Snapshots” section of www.championnews.us. 

                This letter from Bob Berry came to the mailbox at Champion at getgoin.net. “Missing Our Angel” is the heading and Bob goes on to say, “I would like to share some of my memories of Esther Wrinkles.  She and my Mom were good friends in the old days.  When Mom got sick, Esther came with cakes and pies and little bags of food from town.  She just seemed to know when we short on food.  Looking back, I’m sure they probably didn’t have enough food at home but still she shared with us.

                “Then there was the cold March day when Brother Finley was having a baptizing at Brush Creek. When it was my turn, Brother Finley did his job and then he asked me if it was cold?  He didn’t have to put me down again!  As I came out of the water, guess who was standing there by my Mom, Esther with a big white towel!  No one had a phone back then but she knew exactly where she was needed.

               “Then in 1964 I got drafted but I was back home in three days.  Little did I know that someone had gone to the draft board and stood up for me because I was needed at home.  Maybe Esther?   I am sure Esther was an angel, always knowing exactly what was needed!  In later years, when I opened the Gentryville Garage, Esther and Clifford came regularly to have work done on their cars.  Folks, it’s okay to borrow a Mom, Dad, grandmother, or grandfather from time to time when you don’t have your own. I want to thank Larry Wrinkles and Lonnie Mears for letting me borrow their mom when I no longer had my own!  God has called our Angel home – maybe he likes coconut cream pie too. “

                 Her many Champion friends appreciate what Bob has to say.  Those pies that Esther made over the years were a great source of pride and fun.  She said, “Thank you,” with a pie or offered condolences with one.  She acknowledged friendships with pies and raised a phenomenal amount of money with them for the causes she loved.  The Skyline Volunteer Fire Department was one of her particular loves and as the Auxiliary meets this week to finalize its arrangements for the annual chili super, she will be in the thoughts of her friends.   The meeting room at Henson’s G & G over on the North Side of the Square will be the scene of the action as these industrious activists prepare for another excellent event. 

             Robert Louis Stevenson, said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”  Some believers in global warming are planting early against the possibility of another very hot summer.  The moon has changed again and so the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 21^st and 22^nd will all be good days for planting crops that bear their yield above the ground.  Greens of all kinds can go in the ground and peas might be planted by those brave souls who figure they can protect them against unexpected, if seasonal, cold conditions.  It is a gamble.  The daffodils are blooming in old home sites long abandoned.  Before long they will be joined and succeeded by narcissus and tulips then iris and peonies.  Gardeners live on through their hardy perennials.  Lilacs, flowering quince, and the Rose of Sharon are some of the other wonderful things gone wild in the woods that used to have people in them.   Jack Ryan, known as “Foxfire,” as he transplanted some wild plumbs, said that an old Vietnamese arborist admonished, “When you eat the fruit, think of him who planted the tree.”  Love and Gratitude are some of the best things in Champion and they are handed down through the generations. 

            Come down to the village and see for yourself all the splendors that make it unique and precious in a fast paced, technology driven, tumultuous world.  Come tip toe through the tulips on the broad green banks of Old Fox Creek, where country roads meet and the pavement starts, where beautiful hills roll down to pleasant vales and where hearts swell with the joy of being in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION–February 4, 2013

          In Champion the groundhog jumped back in his hole on Saturday and commenced to shove the daffodils up out of the ground.  There is a rumor that there are actual blooms  over in West Champion, but for those along county roads North of the Metropolis the bulbs had sprouted up to be only two or three inches tall by Sunday afternoon.  It is a sure sign that real Spring will eventually arrive.   With winter doldrums as the mode o’ day in some quarters, the prospect of colorful blooms and warmer days is very exciting.  Excitement is standard in Champion where one family looked out to see a genuine flock of bluebirds–in the neighborhood of a hundred of them!  It was the size flock generally associated with robins, but these were genuine blue bluebirds and simply lovely.  

          Whatever the weather, Champions are lined out for a great week ahead.  A phenomenal Champion daughter-in-law has her birthday on the 8^th of February and then Cheyenne Baker, third grader at Skyline School will have her birthday on the 11^th.  Joshua Garner, in kindergarten, will celebrate on the 13^th along with Ms. Powell’s little girl Sondra.  Shelby Ward, Champion great-niece, will continue to be everybody’s Valentine on her special birthday–the 14^th.  She is two years old and has a wonderful big sister and perhaps the most kind and loving grandmother ever a child could have.  

          The Douglas County Museum is doing an excellent job of preserving the history of the county and publishing family histories in the Douglas County Genealogical and Historical Society Journal.  The new Winter Journal of 2012 came out in early December.  The families in it this time are Dobbins, Thurman, Porter, Tooley, and Wilson.  There are also some interesting letters and pictures of Saturday on the Square.   There is an index available at the museum listing all the families that have been featured in the Journal.    Volunteers can help a person find his family history and there are sixty issues of the Journal to draw on.  The Museum has been publishing a lot of interesting pictures on the internet lately, but of course not everyone has a computer.  Currently the Museum is only open on Saturday’s from ten in the morning until two in the afternoon.  It is staffed by volunteers.  The Museum could stand to raise some funds to operate this summer so that folks coming back home from far away can enjoy mementoes of the place they remember.  Everything seems to take a little money to operate.  The good thing is that they have a nice membership program offered and the Journals are available for a very few dollars so it should be not such a big deal to help out.  Generally there is a copy of the Journal on the table in the Reading Room near the wood stove in The Recreation of the Historic Emporium known as Henson’s Grocery and Gas over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  This unique establishment has itself been the subject of the Journal in years past and of any number of other serious publications of local and national acclaim.  Champions like their past and enjoy greatly their present.  The future has some great promise with a whole new crop of dairy farmers growing up in the area.  They can trace their families way back—Champions.

          Someone said we hate what we fear and we fear things we do not understand.  It is also true that fearful people can do stupid things.  Some do not like the world ‘stupid’ because it sounds rude.  It is rude.  Ignorance, on the other hand, is just not having information.  Stupidity is having the information, but behaving ignorantly anyway.   All this goes to the hypocrisy of one particular Champion who hates football with a passion.  Her friend in high school back in 1962, died in his sleep one night of an aneurism after the big game.  In spite of having been a grade school cheer leader, she turned against the game and subsequently found all kinds of reason to dislike it.  She dislikes the money it generates that could be used for wholesome, healthful things, and the mean spirited, macho, gladiator culture.  She has been known to disparage the costumes particularly, saying that women dressed in such a manner would be considered to have sketchy morals.  The hypocrisy part comes in here where she admits a particular liking to the boys in the gold britches.  She does not care what team they are on, and she prefers them not to have stripes down the legs.   The stupidity part comes in here where she willing discusses her hypocrisy.  “Push ‘em back!  Push ‘em back!  Waaaay back!”

Some gardeners in the area try to always have their potatoes and onions plants planted before Valentine’s Day.  Others say to plant lettuce and greens out in the garden on Valentines and wait until St. Patrick’s Day for potatoes.    Some old timers say that the one-hundredth day of the year is the proper day to plant potatoes, regardless of the weather or any other considerations.  Certain old gardeners are careful to plant onions and potatoes on opposite sides of the garden, believing that potatoes will not do well if onions are growing too close.  A little boy who asked about this was told that the odor of onions “makes a ‘tater cry its eyes out.”   A note in “Ozark Superstitions” says that while gardeners may disagree on the best date for planting, they fairly well agree that potatoes should be dug in the light of the moon, otherwise they will rot.  Some had such good luck with their potatoes last year that they have the first seed of their own to plant.   It’s a long way until potato digging time, but Champions are thinking about it anyway.  Charlene Dupree over at the Plant Place in Norwood had very good potato luck last year planting in tires.  She put her seed potatoes in a tire on the ground and added some good quality soil.  Then as the plants grew she added tires and soil.  When it was harvest time she had tires full of big perfect potatoes.   She can probably give a better explanation of just how it worked the next time you are over in that neighborhood. 

A song written about gardening back in the 1970s by Dillon Bustin says, “Polish your hoe till the blade it does shine.  Likewise your rake and sharpen each tine.  Dress up your spade with a light coat of oil.  Then you are ready to prepare your soil.”  When the melody is discovered, a link in the form of an MP3 will appear in the website at www.championnews.us.  Meanwhile any good garden song is welcome at Champion at getgoin.net or at Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Take a trip down to the beautiful garden spot, next to the famed Mercantile on the broad and lush banks of Old Fox Creek, where hearts are light and the honey bees buzz– in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 28, 2013

          As the fog rolls down and through the valleys, Champions are once again amazed at the beauty of the place they are fortunate to call home.   Colors change, new contours emerge and the sycamores stand out white against the darker hills.  There is no need to go roaming.   “The trouble with weather forecasting is that it is right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”  A guy named Patrick Young made this observation in reference Groundhog Day.   Punxsutawney Phil up at Gobbler’s Knob in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania has been popping out of his hole on February 2^nd every year since 1887.   People gather there to see first-hand if the groundhog sees his shadow which indicates that there will be six more weeks of winter weather in store.  Some are saying that the weather is so strange and crazy lately that Phil and other historic indicators are no longer of any use.  On a sunny 60⁰ morning in January there is reason enough to agree.

          A daily visitor to the coffee bar at Henson’s Downtown G & G, celebrates his birthday on the first of February.  He was born in 1940 and travels with a little black dog.  Guess who.  Zack Alexander has his birthday that day too.  He is young and very handsome and much photographed.  He is the very spitting image of his good-looking grandmother.   Angie Heffern, Judy Parsons, Charlene Dupree, and Connie Grand share their birthday on Groundhog Day with Phil.  They were all born in different years and they are all beautiful ladies with talents, gifts and grace.  Zack Baker is an 8^th grader at Skyline.   His birthday is the third and Angel Parks celebrates her day on the 6^th.  She is a sixth grader.  Cowboy Jack went to the New East Dogwood School many long years ago.  His birthday is the 7^thbut his friends will all pretend to have forgotten.  Joyce will probably say that he does not act his age anyway.

          Many friends and family of Lorene Johnston gathered at the Denlow Cemetery on Monday to bid her farewell.  She grew up between Champion and Denlow in a rock house that her Dad built.  Her sister, Bonnie Mullins, said that the house cost their Dad $100.00 to build.  He tore down an old house that was on the property for the lumber and hauled the rocks out of Clever Creek, so all he had to buy was the nails and the cement.  The house has been well maintained and is standing still up on a high spot with a commanding view to the east and the west.  Lorene married Toney Johnston in 1952 and by 1958 they had a three year old son and a dairy farm over near Gentryville.  The family talked about how much the couple loved farming.  It was a beautiful morning up on the hill there at Denlow.  It was in the sixties and the sun shone brightly between some high dark clouds making the light race across the green fields below.  It is not an easy thing to say good bye to loved ones and friends, but when it has to be said, it could not be done in a prettier place on a more lovely day.  Look into the Champion School Reunion pictures at www.championnews.us for some nice photos of Lorene.  Look there too for some great pictures of Denlow.   

          Email arrived at Champion at getgoin.net saying, “What a sweet sendoff for Ms. Wrinkles. I am grieving here in Austin as I feel like I knew her, thanks to your reporting of her citizenship and activities.  As the world loses this greatest generation, I hope our feet can crow to fill their boots—it’s a stretch, I think.”   

          The 25^th of January was the birthday of Robert Burns, born 1796, 254 years ago.  He died at age 37, which seems quite young, though he left a great wonderful body of work behind and people around the world celebrate him on his day with traditional Scots suppers and music.   January 25, 1975 was the day Exer Hector died.  She was 62 and had just begun to really enjoy her life.  If it is a long life or a short life lived long ago or being lived now, it is a precious thing and more precious yet to be remembered well.  There is art in remembering well and it can be learned.  Choose the salient moments to recall and fill in with mental images that suit you.  There is no requirement for grief or for living in the past, but a reverence for those special ones makes this life more full.  Young Foster Wiseman was a lucky boy Sunday when he was able to sit in the pew between his grandmothers.  Foster is seven.  He will not forget these great ladies who love him so much if he lives to be 100. 

          Linda’s Almanac  from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th of February are good days to plant root cops, good days to transplant, good for planting seed beds, good days to prune to encourage growth and to apply organic fertilizer.  Perhaps the weather will cooperate and some young men will come by wanting to help out in the garden.   That may be just a day dream for the old folks who just get it done a little at a time.  If last year is a clue to what is in store for this garden season, some are planning to get everything in early and be prepared to protect against a late frost.  It is a gamble.  Linda is getting the Cole crops ready for gardeners and starting the perennials and herbs.

           The movie “Groundhog Day” tells the story of a man who lives the same day over and over until he finally gets it right.  He learns empathy, compassion and humility and how to speak French and play the piano.  He winds up with the girl and they seem destined to live happily ever after.   “They say we’re young and we don’t know.  We won’t find out until we grow.  Well I don’t know if all that’s true, ‘cause you got me, and baby I got you!” In Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

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