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CHAMPION—July 8, 2013

        “Truth, Justice and The American Way!” was the message scrawled on the bathroom wall and discovered after the last of the early summer guests had departed.    The message was really written in a precise hand on a small slate hung on the wall in that little room and it caused the host to smile reflecting back on the pleasant hours of conversations concerning music, art, literature, philosophy, politics, religion, farming, gardening, engineering, innovation, health, health care and myriad other subjects.  The pleasure derived from such pleasant visiting is one of life’s treasures.  Champion!

        Dawn and Kenneth Henson surely had some of those great conversations while they were in town for the Mountain Grove Alumni gathering this week.  The alumni celebration ties in nicely with the Fourth of July festivities.  Saturday was the regular day for the parade and general get-together of people who have attended school there in past years going way back–way back.  Dawn did not go to school there.  She grew up in Tulsa and had six hundred people in her high school graduating class, which had its 50^th reunion this year.  She did not attend, saying that she does not feel as close to her own graduating class a she does to Kenneth’s in Champion and in Mountain Grove.  She likes the friendly environment in these parts.  The two of them spent some pleasant time on the wide veranda at the Champion Store on Sunday.  The store was not open, but they still enjoyed a few minutes of leisure looking out over the tranquil scene.  Dawn said that it had been 107˚F when they left Houston the other day, so it was not just family history that had them so glad to be back in Champion.  They were going to spend some time Sunday afternoon with Uncle Deward Henson’s daughter, then head up to Springfield to visit with brother Royce Henson and his wife Jo.  They planned a stop off in Arkansas on their way home to see a granddaughter perform in a school function there.  When complimented on his apparent vigor and weight loss, Kenneth (Hoovie) credited his by-pass surgery.  He said that he had blown his strict diet in a big way on this trip but that he will get back on the straight and narrow soon.  Their Champion friends hope the straight and narrow will bring them back for the Champion School Reunion on the Saturday before Labor Day.

        “Is this the Information Bureau?”  That was the opening salvo of the telephone conversation initiated by a prominent Champion who was calling to find out what he could do that day according to Linda’s Almanac.  The July almanac was late in being posted on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G & G and he could not figure out what to do.  It turned out that the day he called and the subsequent day were perfect days for destroying weeds.  He had been killing brush the day before so he felt like he was on the right track.  The 14^th through the 17^th will be the next favorable days for planting, particularly for those crops that produce their yield above the ground.  The almanac can be studied on the bulletin board in Champion, on the internet at www.championnews.us and over at The Plant Place in Norwood.  It is nice to have a plan or to have the comfort of knowing you are doing the right thing at the right time.

        Plans are well underway for the Skyline VFD picnic that will be the 9^th and 10^th of August this year.  The Skyline VFD Auxiliary will have its next planning meeting in Champion on Thursday the 11^th of July.  Time is flying by!  Hoovie and Dawn did not get to see the beautiful quilt that is on display in the Historic Emporium, but they have been promised pictures and the opportunity to buy as many tickets as they would like by mail.  The drawing will be held on Saturday night of the picnic.  The White River Valley Electric Cooperative people have been very nice again this year, awarding $100.00 in free electricity to be won by a participating member.  Howell- Oregon Electric has also contributed a Deluxe AM/FM weather alert radio which can be examined at the store in Champion.  It will be offered in the silent auction at the picnic so some lucky bidder can enjoy the good news about bad weather and as the Missouri Electric Cooperatives say, “We can’t change the weather, but we can help you plan and prepare.”

        Sophia Zappler will have her eleventh birthday on the 13^th of July.  That is just about the time that Kate and William Winsor are expecting their royal baby.  Maybe Sophia will share her birthday with a future queen.  Ceiara Carroll will have her birthday on the 14^th of July.  She will be in the seventh grade at Skyline this fall.  Summer is an excellent time for a birthday.  Some friends celebrate Christmas time birthdays in the middle of the summer just to have the day be truly special.  “Birthday” money should not necessarily have to be spent on other people at Christmas.  While giving may indeed be the greatest joy, sometimes it takes a while to figure that out, and for a child or an adult receiving is also most pleasant.  That is particularly true of a thoughtful gift.  It takes practice to figure out just what might be the most wonderful thing to give to a friend or loved one.  The thought behind the gift is decidedly more important than the amount of money spent on it.  One old Champion grandmother thinks she will just start giving boxes of “Thank you” notes to grandchildren, who do not seem to have been taught the concept.

        Love and Gratitude go together like biscuits and gravy.  Country musicians have written many songs about being thankful.  Roy Clark sang, “Thank God and Greyhound Your Gone.”  Kris Kristofferson wrote to God in his thank you song:  “Thank you for that burning sun that’s rising golden in the air that smells so sweet.  Thank you for that empty far horizon that opens to a new eternity.”  Send your favorite thank you song to Thank You, Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion @ getgoin.net.  Better yet, make the trip down to the bottom of the hill on the wide, wooly banks of Old Fox Creek and sing your thank you song right out loud.  Climb up the broad graceful steps of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium and turn to look out over one of the world’s truly beautiful places.  Hold on to the porch rail with both hands as you express your jubilant joy and gratitude for being in Champion–Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—July 1, 2013

        John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Washington and some other guys got together in Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia in 1774, to chat and conspire among themselves with the doors and windows closed against the Royalist spies.  By the second of July 1776, they had moved to Independence Hall and John Adams kept yelling “Now is the time!”  There was a thunderstorm going on.  They got it figured out and here we are…. a big lusty Nation.  Even back then Adams and others were concerned about the direction of the country and continually said that it was “going to Hell.”  The country was in turmoil.  It has always been in turmoil.  It is the nature of the Nation to be in turmoil because it is an amalgam of the ‘melting pot,’ roiling with growing pains and optimism.  Champion is the very seat of optimism in the very Heart of the Nation.  Hurrah! for the Red White and Blue!

        “Now is the time!” said Harley to Barbara or Barbara to Harley on July 3^rd forty eight years ago.  So they tied the knot just before Independence Day, forever abandoning their individual independence for the joy of joining together “‘ till,”  well, everybody knows “’till when.”  For the most part, it seems to have worked out well.  It is good for the city girl that her farm boy needs to go spend some time in the hay every year.  That way, when he has had such a productive country sojourn away from her, and she, such a peaceful respite of freedom, they are again delighted with the sight of one another, just like the old days!  Flowers, dinner out, lengthy conversations about their respective time alone make it all seem like it is starting all over again.  They were young and the future stretched out before them endlessly.  Romance is truly Champion.  Congratulations.

        Vickie Baumer, a graduate student working at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station is quite a fan of the old fashioned hollyhock.  An article featuring her and the flower in the Ozarks Fruit and Garden Review confirms the plants origins and its Victorian placement around the rural outhouses.   Ms. Baumer could, no doubt, corroborate the information that the tap root of the hollyhock is probably so deep that an attempt to transplant it, especially in extreme heat, would most likely be pure folly.  So when the gardener saw that brand new bright red truck speeding by the other day, she was sure that the driver had read the Champion News of June 17^th, 2013, describing the unlawful digging of the lone blossom and was hoping the cheeks of the driver matched the color of the truck.  Read about the theft at www.championnews.us and see in that particular article the Champion children at the Tri County Fair and some excellent illustrations of the hollyhock, which was suggested by Texas granddaughter, Zoey Louise, who was much saddened that someone would steal a flower.  Readers of the Herald particularly might visit the internet to verify that they are getting all of the Champion News.  Sometimes there are edits for length or for content or for no apparent reason.  Last week the article ended mid-sentence with the word ‘where.’  The subject was homecoming and the sentence finished thusly:   “where the pavement starts it is good to be home—in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!”

        June Slipped away so quickly.  Nick Massey had a birthday on the 25^th and Dancing Nancy out Dogwood way celebrated on the 26^th.  Esther Wrinkles would have had her 95^th on the 28^th.  Champion Eva Powell shared her birthday on the 29^th with KZ88 Radio personality Butch Kara.  Now it is July and a most pleasant curmudgeon up on the side of a hill rejoices that he has made it to yet another astounding number of years.  Patrick Vincent, who will be a 4^th grader at Skyline this fall, will have his birthday on the 3^rd of July.  Kyra Curtis has her birthday on the 6^th.  She will be in the 7^th grade when school starts up again.  Lyla Brown will be in kindergarten.  Her birthday is on the 7^th of July.  The 14^th Dali Lama will celebrate his 78^th birthday on the 6^th of July.  He shares the date with Professor Daryl Haden formerly of Smallett, Missouri, and now of South Fulton, Tennessee.  Of course, The United States of America celebrates its birthday on the 4^th of July!  The creeks will be full of revelers and the fun will be effervescent.  Huzza!

        Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood indicates that the 8^th and 9^th will be excellent days for planting crops that bear their yield above the ground. Some Champions will use those dates to finally get their green beans in.  “Surely,” think they, “there will be plenty of time for them to make.”  They hope to spend some days in early September canning beans.   Their friends wish them good luck.  These spectacular days are a genuine gift.  Folks to the west and south are suffering mightily from the heat.  The wildfires are horrific.  Friends and family living in those affected areas are much in the thoughts of their loved ones across the Nation.  The firefighters who put themselves at risk for the protection of lives and property are to be commended certainly and the families of those lost firefighters considered in National prayers.  “O beautiful, for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life.”

        Singing “America the Beautiful” is definitely an exercise in spirit lifting.  It is suggested that everyone give it a try out.  Sing it out loud on the comfortable veranda at the top of the graceful steps overlooking the tranquil splendor of one of the world’s truly beautiful places. “O beautiful, for pilgrim feet/Whose stern, impassioned stress/ A thoroughfare for freedom beat/Across the wilderness!” to Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 24, 2013

After a prolonged absence or a short one, the joy of coming home is a joy that almost everyone gets to experience sometime in his life time or maybe many times in a life time. Home is the most venerated of all human traditions. It is that place that you know where you are known. The poet, Robert Frost, said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” The privilege of calling Champion home is one that none take for granted. It is where the heart is.

Fifteen Cherokee high school and college students from Oklahoma joined up with seven riders from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Echota, Georgia on May 30th and began the 950-mile ride to commemorate the forced move of Cherokees from Georgia to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears in 1838. They arrived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Friday the 21st. For some of them it was a home coming. For the rest it was the experience of going to a strange place. Many of them said it was an amazing trek, but that they never lost sight of the fact that for the survivors of that original trip the experience was much different. Thousands did not survive. The trail passes through many states and at various times of the year many motorcycle riders, some of them Cherokees, retrace the trail as a reminder of the difficulties of those long ago times. One of them said that he makes the ride to remind himself that now the country has a great many different people in it from all over the world. He thinks people should be less quick to decide that they are very different from anyone else. Everybody comes from somewhere and “The moon shines tonight on Pretty Red Wing.”

It is obvious that the past ten days have been busy ones for the haymakers. Some fields look like they have produced three times last year’s yield. It will be interesting to conduct a survey of the increase if those guys ever get down off their tractors. Barns are stuffed and the bounty is greeted with gratitude even considering the hard work it takes to collect it all. Gardens have leapt ahead in the meantime for those fortunate enough to have a garden husbandman at home willing to water from time to time. The weeds seem to have made a great success of themselves as well. A few days of remedial weeding will have it all looking just right. Linda’s almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 28th through the 30th will be a favorable time for planting late root crops and for transplanting. These are also good days for vine crops, for setting strawberry plants, for pruning to encourage growth and for applying organic fertilizer. There is always so much to do that a person can forget how important it is to get down to the creek!

City girls have come to the farm. They are excited about the garden, the full moon in the country, the fireflies, the frogs croaking at night, the whippoorwills, the neighbor’s cows and horses, and the wild flowers. Penelope says, “When I grow up I want to be a teacher!” Country girls have moved to town. One of them has had the interesting circumstance in life to have a General for a father. He has provided direction, if only sometimes the way not to go. He has most likely been responsible for an enormous amount of embarrassment from time to time and certainly much entertainment. He did, however, offer a steady hand of positive guidance that has resulted in a confident, capable young woman who can pull up her big girl tool kit, pull out her own needle nose pliers, walk into O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and get what is needed to do what has to be done to fix her own car. Admittedly, it was a simple ‘fix,’ but it marks willingness to take personal responsibility and that is a sterling trait of any girl from the country or the town. Champions!

Descriptions of sterling traits are welcome at Champion@getgoin.net or Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717. Look in on www.championnews.us for some visual poetry. “A hush surf sound sighs and a quiet light glides through dense bows overhanging the deep, cool, soft sand. Dragonflies dance while small spiders dangle by sticky silk threads in the still air.” From the sands of South Padre Island to the broad inviting veranda of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square just to the west of the wild wooly banks of Old Fox Creek, at the bottom of the hill where the pavement starts it is good to be home—in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 17, 2013

        AUSTIN—It is strongly recommended that a person get up and go elsewhere every now and then.  Just get out of Dodge.  Look around and try to grasp the reality that there are more than seven billion people in the world—a billion being a thousand million.    It may be that everyone thinks his own part of the world is best, and it is easy to be confident of that when living in Champion.   Champions have lots of good neighbors on Planet Earth, and while it is nice to be neighborly and to go visiting, it will be glorious to be back home in the beautiful hills.

        The big rain over by Springfield on Saturday was big news on the internet.   Friends and family living over there are much in the thoughts of their Champions.   Golf ball size hail does not sound good for the garden.  The forecast looks like more for the week ahead, so it is hoped that the hay is in bales already when the rain comes and that it comes in just the right amount and that all the golf balls land squarely in the fair way.

        Reports are that Champion kids and cousins had a great time at the fair.  Jacob Brixey and Teagan Krider were the youngest farmers to show their livestock.  They are both three years old and both won a bucket, a halter and a trophy for youngest exhibitor– Jacob’s in blue and Teagan’s in pink.  His folks say that Jacob has not wanted to put his trophy down.  He wanted it in bed with him but settled for having it next to the bed where he could reach it as soon as he woke up.

Young Champion dairy farmers made a fine showing at the Tri County Fair. Jacob Brixey is here examining his trophy for youngest boy exhibitor. Behind him is Foster Wiseman with the leather hater awarded as the Herdsmen award for the Krider family. Jenna Brixey and Kalyssa Wiseman also received ribbons for their performance. Taegan Krider has her pink halter as part of her prize as youngest girl exhibitor.

Jenna Brixey, 5; Tyler Klingensmith, 4; Jacob Brixey, 3; Maddox Klingensmith, 7. Each won three ribbons for their excellent performance showing their calves at the Tri-County Fair.

Jacob’s sister, Jenna, showed her calf and their cousins Maddax and Tyler Klingensmith also came to show again.  Teagan’s cousins, Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman of Marshfield, and Dillon Watts from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, were also a big part of the exhibition again this year.  This seems like a Champion farm family tradition.  Young farmers are what the world needs to keep itself fed and healthy.  Champions all!

Champion Hollyhocks

        “Alcea” is the scientific name for the flower known as the hollyhock.  There are about sixty species of the plant and they are said to have originated in central Asia, though a few are native to southeast Europe or Egypt.  They must have arrived in America during the Victorian era (1837 to 1901) when they were commonly planted around out-houses so that a young lady visiting would not have to ask the embarrassing question about where it was.  These days, they are a much enjoyed garden ornamental.  They grow on tall stalks in shades that vary from deep purple, almost black, through all the pinks and reds to white—a very lofty elegant plant.  They are quite drought resistant and do well in the full sun so a person who sows the seeds along their fence row might expect to see their lane dressed up and lovely to drive through.   While some seeds fall on stony ground and others are crowded out by tares or eaten by birds, a few will take root and one did out in East Champion a few years ago.  It has been making seeds every year but none of its offspring have caught on and the beautiful single pink sentinel has been waving in the breeze all alone until last week.  The gardener who sowed the seed lives close to the road and happened one day to notice a bright red, very new pick-up truck driving very slowly down the road.  That is good because between showers dust billows behind speeding vehicles.   The gardener watched in amazement as the truck stopped at the bottom of the hill and a woman emerged with a shovel and began to dig up the single hollyhock.  She made short work of it and soon had the tall plant lying flat in the back of her truck.  The bewildered gardener watched as she drove away.  It is to be known that the plant has a long deep tap root and the chances of a mature plant surviving a transplant in the heat of the year is slim.  So the gardener is deprived of its beauty as are admiring passersby and the robber will most likely not succeed in having the coveted plant thrive in her own patch.   Ex-Route 2 mailman, Bob Chadwell , will tell a person straight out that it is illegal to pick up rocks out of the creek and to dig roadside plants.   The part about rocks has not been verified, but there was a law passed in 1994, that levees a fine of $500.00 and up to six months in jail for digging roadside flowers for transplant.   Since the rule was established to protect native species, it may not apply to the hollyhock.   Still, the woman in the new red truck with the windows rolled up to stay cool could just cruise the roads slowly and enjoy the beauty of what is there. If she must possess it, she could go to a nursery and buy herself some hollyhocks.  Linda probably has some over at The Plant Place in Norwood.  Meanwhile, the gardener with the missing hollyhock might put up a sign on the fence where the plant was dug saying—what?

        Say, “Happy Birthday!” to Daniel Parkes who will be in the second grade at Skyliine School in the fall.  His birthday is on the 19^th of June.  That is also the birthday of a Champion nephew who spent a great deal of his formative youth on the farm on Cold Springs Road.  Joshua Cohen had many good jokes with Ed Henson.  Now he is an older fellow, still much loved.  Alyssa Strong will be a fifth grader and her birthday is on the 23^rd.   Dillon Watts’ mother, Linda, has her birthday on the first day of summer.  It is hard to believe she has completed her second score!   Sierra Parsons, the granddaughter of great Champion friends from over west of Ava, also has her birthday on the Summer Solstice.  It is the longest day of the year, a good time to celebrate.  She and her sister, Bailey have been visiting with their grandparents.  They live in Portland, Oregon and like to come to the Ozarks whenever they can.  Of course, their grandparents like it too.  They have a wonderful garden and the girls will have a chance to pick some peas and strawberries and swim in the creek.   Summertime is wonderful in Champion.

        “Summer time and the living is easy” unless you live on the farm and then there is work to do.  It is healthy, wholesome work though, and nobody really complains about it very much.  Since it has to be done anyway, there is hardly any point in complaining, but a person can brag about how hard he works though.  He can go down the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square and share some of his produce which is the price of bragging.  Sing your summertime song or do a little bragging while you stand on the broad inviting veranda and look out over one of the truly beautiful places on Planet Earth, Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 10, 2013

        Glorious early summer days in Champion have haymakers busy and all the exciting summertime events are beginning to happen.  It seems that every time of the year has some excitement built into it in Champion.  It is just that kind of place, poised on the balance of past and future with the pleasant present as the central pillar.  Nostalgia and optimism teeter back and forth on the lovely here and now.  Champion!

        It may come as a surprise that Father’s Day was forty years late in becoming the counterpart to Mother’s Day.  It was not until President Lyndon B.  Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.  Six years later the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.  Senator Margaret Chase Smith accused Congress of ignoring fathers for forty years while honoring mothers.  Most countries around the world have a Sunday in June dedicated to fathers.  Champions honor the old guy year around with much Love and Gratitude for the hard work, the good guidance, stewardship, and the steadfastness which he exemplifies.  Good fathers are teaching their sons how to be good fathers by example–being fair and kind as they apply the Golden Rule.  Champion, Dad!

        Ms. McCleary’s garden is looking good.  She plans to run some fence and hang some aluminum pie plates to deter some critters.  She might visit a barber shop and get some hair to spread around the perimeter and she has several other ideas about protecting her pretty parcel.  She has quite an appreciation for wild flowers and posted a picture on line of what may have been a buttercup.  She is on a quest to identify it.   Linda’s Almanac says that from the 16^th through the 20^th will be good days for planting and transplanting above the ground crops.  There will not be another good time to plant root crops until the 3^rd of July.  Linda’s main garden helper was planting sweet potatoes Saturday.  He is famous for growing huge sweet potatoes.  His method is hard work, but it really pays off.  He digs a deep trench, 18 to 20 inches, and fills it in with layers of compost and sand and keeps building it until he has a raised bed a foot or so high.   He covers the bed with a good quality weed cloth that has been cut to accommodate the plants.  He may have drip irrigation installed in it too.  It seems quite elaborate, but once the initial work is done he can just sit back and watch them grow.

        It was a surprise to see radio personalities, Myron Jackson and K. Z. Perkins on television the other day.   They were talking about storm damage that the station had sustained recently.   KZ88 is the community all volunteer listener supported radio station in Cabool.  On Sunday they had their Barebones Bottom-Of-The-Barrel Birthday Bash with lots of good food, a silent auction and a rummage sale.  In spite of a fast moving thunder storm that roared through during the event, they were able to raise $1,161.00.  That will go a long way toward affecting the repairs to the tower.  Thursday is the new big day for garage sales they say, so the volunteers will have another sale at the station then to add to the repair fund.  KZ88 has been a good neighbor supporting the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department in all its various happenings and it is a joy to be able to reciprocate.  Some radio station volunteers shopped at the sale in Esther Wrinkles’ yard on Friday and Saturday.  Her sons and daughters-in-law worked for some weeks getting ready and were exhausted by the end of it.  Many friends and neighbors who loved Esther had a chance to secure a little memento for remembrance.  Esther was a real Champion.

        Remembering birthdays is no kind of chore.  The pleasure people take in being remembered on their special day is beyond price.  Adeline Homer and Isabelle Creed will both be in the third grade at Skyline when school starts up in the fall.  They celebrate their birthday on the same day, June 12^th.  That is also the birthday of a certain-mother-in-law who may have coined the phrase “SPS” (self-praise stinks).  That may be a lesson in humility.  Dylan Ford and Wyatt Hicks share their birthdays on 13^th.  Dylan will be a seventh grader and Wyatt will be in the third grade.  Zachary Coon will be a second grader and his birthday is on the 15^th.  Foster Wiseman’s birthday is the 16^th.  He is growing so fast that it is hard to remember if he will be seven or eight.

        Cousins Foster and Eli had a good visit during the week.  They caught turtles and named them, and did all kinds of serious boy stuff while Emerson Rose, Kalyssa and Taegan did all kinds of interesting girl things.  They all went up to Clever Creek together to play for a while and no doubt many good memories were made.  In forty years they will all be middle aged people looking back on a wonderful childhood.  It will be exciting to hear of their adventures at the fair and their Champion friends all wish them well in their showings.

        “Now the moon shines tonight on Pretty Red Wing.  The breeze is sighing, the night bird’s crying.”  The song was written in 1907, and the music was adapted from a composition by Robert Schumann, “The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work,” in 1848.  One version of the song says that she is weeping her heart away because far away her brave is sleeping.  Another version says he is dying.  The Remember the Removal Bike Ride is going on currently.  A group of young people are riding nearly a thousand miles commemorating the forced removal of the Cherokees from their original homeland to what is now Oklahoma.  It was in 1838 that the federal government under the presidency of Andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee and other tribes to give up their land.   Looking out over the beauty of the country and feeling deep roots here, it is easy to imagine how painful the experience must have been.  The wide and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek have probably not changed too much in the last 175 years.  The wide and inviting veranda on the Recreation of the Historic Emporium is a good place to look back over time.  Share your thoughts on the subject at www.championnews.us, at Champion@getgoin.net or at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  While you enjoy the beauty of the place, sing a little bit of Pretty Red Wing and be glad to be in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 3, 2013

        Champions crossed Clever Creek Sunday morning in a fit of trepidation as the south west side of the slab was quite washed out and exposed and the north side an extended bog of mud.   Four wheel drive proved to be a valuable feature of local jalopies.    Later in the day the washed out area had been repaired and the aprons on both sides were much improved.  The water was still very deep and swift with a good deal of clean gravel over the slab, but it was quite passable for an intrepid traveler.  There were some enormous tire tracks in the mud and so it is figured that those fine gentlemen of the Drury Shed had been working on Sunday pulling oxen out of ditches, making things safe in the neighborhood.  Champion! 

        The haymakers are dodging wet weather to get their crops in and some are having great success.  Non-resident Champions in from Illinois are again alternating their time between the tractor seat and the spacious veranda at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium.   Farmers are not only the backbone of the Nation, they are interesting people.   When they get together there is a good deal of speculation, reminiscing and laughter.    The week ahead should be a glorious one for the haymaking enterprise if Monday sets the example.   Linda’s Almanac says that the 6^th and 7^th will be good days for planting root crops and for transplanting.  Sometimes the good day is the one when a person is able to get the work done, or when the rain is expected, or when help is available.  Flexibility is one of those Champion traits.

        Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”  He was talking about defeated expectations.  Thomas Waller had a musical conversation about it. “Boy, what’s the matter with you? “  “Ah, man, everything’s wrong.  My old lady ran off with the ice man.  My daughter ran off with the undertaker, and I’m about to die and I ‘aint got nobody to bury me!”  “Son, don’t let it bother you if now and then, castles tumble, never grumble.  Count from one to ten.”   He goes on to say that a smile is a frown upside down.   A much loved Champion advised in his youth that the road sign that has “expectation” written on one side has “disappointment” on the other.  The key to a moderate life might be to have no expectations.  Where is the fun in that?

        “Where were you on the night of June the 3^rd?   Did you meet a stranger?  Did you take a walk?  Was your heart in danger?”  Those questions by the esteemed Mr. Waller have romantic connotations.  June the 3^rd is the birthday of Ms. McLellan, a great lover of music, as well as the birthday of a certain Margie whose husband is the son of the sister of a certain Champion.   This woman is a talented glass artist and painter, an amazing cook, a contra dancing whiz, a singer of fine voice and knitter extraordinaire, and many other things including beautiful, sweet and friendly.  It is a poor use of time to compare oneself to the likes of her!  She is a peach!

        Young people in the area are getting ready to show their calves at the fair.  Jenna and Jacob Brixey and their cousins are training hard and are expecting to get their pictures in the paper again this year.  The Fox Creek Rodeo has been going strong for a while.  When Taegan Peanunt’s calf got away from her the other day, she just went to the house.  She was fed up and disgusted by the whole thing.  She is a regular farm girl, so she will be back out with it soon.  The three year old sure does like her cow milk.   Foster went airborne, they say, as his calf is a little bigger and new to training.   He is a tough customer though and made a quick recovery.  He had an interesting story to tell about the bear that came into his grandparent’s yard up in Marshfield the other day.  Wayne and Bernice Wiseman saw the critter going between their house and their neighbor’s place.  It spent some time under the neighbor’s trampoline.   There were some pictures on the television news and a short video taken on someone’s telephone.  If Wayne was able to get pictures he will surely bring them to Champion on his next visit.   Foster’s Champion grandmother is not at all unsure that there may be bears in this area.  She has seen them before and is on the lookout, particularly as the berries will soon be coming on.  Her neighborhood is wild and wooly with plenty of room for several nice bears to live.

        The Fox Trotters are having their wonderful to-do this week.  Emerson Rose and her brother, Eli, will be down from Perry, Missouri for the event and will spend some good quality time with their Champion “Grammie” and their cousins.   Their Dad will be competing in various events again.  It is always an exciting time for the family.  It may be that those settlers to the Ozarks in the early 19^th century knew that one day the ambling gait of the horse breed they were developing would be famous the world over.  Old Fox was a Champion horse from right around these parts.  There are pictures of him up in the pavilion at the Fox Trotters pavilion in Ava which is located now on what is called “Missouri Fox Trotting Highway.”    Esther Wrinkles had some good stories to tell about those days when Old Fox was in the Champion neighborhood.  There was a famous event when he was loaded up on a trailer down on what is now known as the ‘square’ in Downtown Champion.   Esther had some great stories to tell and her many friends miss her.  She had 95 years of making friends and experiencing a good life.  She had her trials and disappointments, but through it all, she was a real Champion.   If the rain holds off,  her family will have a sale of many of her things on Friday and Saturday.   It will be a chance for her many admirers not to say good bye.

        Ms. Cleary’s garden is a beauty.  Wilburn is giving her good advice and she is taking it.  She has long straight rows and they are fairly bristling with produce.   Now if the bugs do not get it, or it does not get washed out, and marauding cows or hogs or crows or raccoons do not come to feast there, and if her hoe handle does not break, or her help does not show up, and if it does not get too hot, or if she does not get called away on important business, or a great number of other things about like that, she will most likely have a bountiful harvest.  Her Champion friends wish her much good success.  It is almost a sure bet.

        Good advice, sure bets, cures for disappointment, and recipes for fun are all welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO. 65717 or at Champion@getgoin.net.  Look in on www.championnews.us for a lovely cyber-view of the area.  You will be much improved by the effort.  Better yet, make the drive down the long smooth hill from C Highway on WW until the pavement runs out;  then make a right turn.  You will be right in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 27, 2013

                Champions are conscious that just a few hours’ drive west the tornado damage in Oklahoma has wrecked homes and lives.  Many have friends and family out there and hopes are that recovery is swift and strong.  It is hard to find the bright side of a tragedy such as this, but there have been a few.  Long lost and estranged siblings and other family members are reaching out to each other to verify their safety and to reconnect.  The squabbles, tiffs and misunderstandings that loosened the ties that bind somehow seem so much less important in the big picture.  In peril, families draw close.  Champion!

                Memorial Day celebrations are of the old fashioned kind in these parts.  People gather at the country cemeteries for religious services and dinner on the grounds.  Graves are decorated as dear ones who have passed away are remembered, and dear ones present are enjoyed and appreciated in sweet fellowship.  For some it is a marathon as their roots are so spread through the area.  For Americans everywhere it is a good time to pause to express Love and Gratitude.

                Miss Alexandra Jean will be having her birthday on the 31^st of May.  She will be seven years old!  She lives in Texas and will be coming with her sister, Zoey Louise, to visit her grandparents as soon as school is out there.  It looks like there will be lots of nice things in the garden for them to pick and that it may be warm enough for a trip to the creek.  Everyone is getting excited.  There will be some good days for planting root crops while they are in Champion and a good chance for some little city girls to get very dirty.  Linda’s Almanac will help.  Find a copy of it on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown Grocery and Gas, up at The Plant Place in Norwood, and on line at www.championnews.us.  Another Texan and fine gardener, who lives over west of Ava will celebrate his birthday on the second of June.  His age has not been disclosed, but since some Champions have known him for close to 40 years and he was a grown man when they met, it is figured that he is getting up there.  Happy birthday to him and to Alex and to everyone who wakes up again happy to be alive.  Every day is a cause for celebration in Champion.

                It was good to see Wilma Hutchison’s photographs of Bud’s Champion trail ride.  It looks like those folks had a good time out on the trail.  Larry McFall is a fellow who lives over in Marshfield and has ties to the Denlow community that makes him want to move over this way.  He has a couple of horses so he is looking for ten or so acres to keep them and he might get acquainted with Bud and some of his cronies to enjoy the many trail rides in the area.  Someone said he plays the dobro, so he will fit right in this part of the world. 

                There is a sad tale to tell.  Jerry Wagner has lost his fiddles.  He and Lena returned home Friday from a bluegrass festival up in Curryville, MO.  They parked the RV down in the lower drive this time because they had a car hauler attached to the back of it.  Ordinarily they would have parked up by the house.  No sooner had they got in the house than they looked out and saw black smoke coming out of the RV.  Jerry got back down there but could not get the fire out with the garden hose.  He managed to get the car unhooked before the whole RV erupted in flames.  Lena called the fire department and they came out and extinguished the fire.  Of course, the good thing is that Lena and Jerry are OK.  They were lucky not to have parked up at the house where the fire might have spread to their home.  They have found a number of reasons to be grateful.  But oh!–that beautiful old fiddle!  It had been a gift from an old family friend who had no children to pass it along to and it was a beauty.  They guess it to have been every bit of 150 years old.  It had a sweet sound and Lena said it was easy to play.  The music community is tight knit here and Billy Hicks let Jerry know he would have him a fiddle in short order.  He got together with Bill Connelly who sent two fiddles over for Jerry to try.  He had a gig on Saturday afternoon playing for an alumni banquet over in West Plains, so he must have found one useable.  Maybe the perfect one will fall into his hands one of these days the way he fell through the ceiling for Lena back in Kansas City all those years ago.  The two of them had grown up around these parts but were not acquainted.  Jerry went to school in Mountain Grove, and Lena went to school in Almartha and then Ava, but was a farm girl home milking morning and evening and did not get out very much.  She was the middle one of eleven children and worked in Gainesville in a one person telephone office for a year after she graduated from high school.  Then she moved to Kansas City with a couple of girls and worked there.  That’s where she met Jerry and the rest is pretty much history.  Her baby brother, Lee Ray, still lives in Almartha but is a frequent visitor to Champion.  Lena indicated that he is spoiled, but they would not have it any other way.  He has a very pleasant disposition and a lovely smile and so does his sister.  Jerry might be a little slow getting his smile back, but his many friends and musical acquaintances will help him.    In England in 1720, J. Roberts wrote, “ Ballad Upon a Gentleman’s Sitting upon the Lady W’s Cremona Fiddle.”  “This Fiddle of Fiddles, when it came to be try’d, was as sweet as a Lark and as soft as a Bride.   This Fiddle to see, and its Musick to hear, gave Delight to the Eye, while it ravisht the Ear.”  Well, Roberts goes on to say what all he hoped would happen to that part of the oaf which sat on the fiddle.  Champion friends are glad there is no one to blame for the loss and will just be pleased that the music is in the man.  It will find a way to get out. 

                Get out on the spacious veranda at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium and visit with Lee Ray, or sing, “Uncle Pen played the fiddle, how he made it ring.  You could hear it talk.  You could hear it sing.” In Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

THE 2013 DENLOW SCHOOL REUNION
The weather was perfect for the 27th annual Denlow School Reunion on Saturday. At eleven in the morning the school bell rang out and students, family and friends assembled for an interesting program. Fred Follis led the group in The Pledge of Allegiance. In his remarks, master of ceremonies, Robert Upshaw, noted that the first reunion was held in 1987, and there were 250 people in attendance. There were considerably fewer this time. The past year saw the passing of a number of students and spouses including Lorene Johnston, Vivian Shannon, Velma Hopper, Esther Wrinkles, Sue Upshaw, Bryan Gray, and Ray Mallernee.
The Memorial Day week end was designated as the most appropriate time for the reunion for a number of reasons, not the least of which had to do with the many Veterans who had attended the school as children. During World War II, Lavern Miller landed on Omaha Beach in France and fought all the way across France and Germany and was in Salzburg, Austria when the war ended. Fred Follis joined the Marine Corps in 1961. Tom Coley joined the Navy in 1956 and liked it. He stayed until 1977. Darrell Cooley was drafted in 1962 and was in Viet Nam in 1963 and 1964. Dailey Upshaw was in the air Force and said he mostly did paperwork. Dean Brixie was in the air Force from 1962 to 1966. He said he joined to see something of the world and what he saw was Arkansas. He was an electrician on the Titan II missiles. Robert Upshaw spent 21 years in the Air Force before returning to his roots. Pete Proctor spoke movingly about his trip this time last year to Washington D.C. with his son Bryan who had just finished 20 years of service. Pete was 23 years old when he was drafted and he served in Viet Nam and this was his first trip to see the memorial there. He said it was a life changing experience. He said that he was told that the Viet Nam Memorial went up before the World War II Memorial as a compensation for the way they were treated when they returned home. He also spoke about the Korean War Memorial with its life like statues of soldiers in the field. Pete suggests that every American, particularly every Veteran, would benefit by a visit to these important National Memorial sites.
Ruby Proctor won the first door prize of the day which was a small handsaw and a flashlight. Rick Wilkey of Kentucky, was the youngest in attendance, and was selected to draw the door prize tickets. He drew his own number and that of a family member, so there were a couple of flashlights and hand saws sent home to Kentucky and Tennessee. It was all in good fun. Then there was a great pot-luck luncheon that begged dieters to step out of their restrictions for a day. Beautiful deserts and wonderful conversations followed until some were about ready for a nap. The group retired to the lovely outdoor pavilion then for music and more visiting. A guitar and a fiddle came out of their cases and the Eight of January and a number of other wonderful old tunes ensued. Then came a banjo and a couple more guitars and things got lively. Toes were tapping and Sally Prock would have danced a jig with just a little encouragement.
Lavern Miller, with the help of Kenneth Anderson, conducted the auction which, according to one of Ruby’s nephews who had traveled from Oregon for the occasion, should have been recorded for its pure comic value. Elizabeth Johnston kept the books and a nice nest egg was set aside to help pay for the next reunion. Those who signed the registry this year were: Linda Jean Popek, Dean Upshaw, Dailey Upshaw, Fae Upshaw Krider, Fred and Jean Follis, Mary and Ken Gerald, Barbara and Kenneth Anderson, Loretta Upshaw, Kaye Upshaw Johnston, Tom Cooley, Darrell Cooley, Lorie Cox, Johnnie Cox, Bonnie Brixie Mullens, Wilda Moses, Phillis and Pete Proctor, Robert Dean Brixey, Cathie Alsup Riley, Rick Wilkey, Jessie Mae Miller, Lavern Miller, Sally Prock, Jef and Bev Schellenger, Shirley Brixie, Ed Williams, Sonja and Allison Williams, Larry McFall. Among those in attendance who did not sign the registry were Russell Upshaw, Carol Barnhart, James and Jana Brixie with their two young ones, Norris Woods and a couple of guitar playing guests, David and Julie Hicks, Richard Johnston, Peggy Hancock, Sharon Upshaw, Pete Mullens, Frank and Freda Proctor and a number of others. It is believed that a good time was had by all.

CHAMPION—May 20, 2013

        “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer…”  Champions now forget the discontent of winter which was not much except for its length and move straight on to glorious summer.  Last Sunday morning found frost in low spots and Tuesday temperatures reached 90˚.  There will yet be some spring before the season changes officially on June 21^st.  Meanwhile on days that are too damp or too hot, friends can gather around the tables in the meeting room at Henson’s Downtown G & G  and discuss current events or daydreams.   Daydreams include the speculation about just how one might handle having won the six hundred million dollars in the Power Ball drawing.  It turns out that Wes and the Cowboy did not have to worry about it.  It sounded like it was just going to make life complicated for either one of them anyway, particularly as it related to the possibility of finding out about how many new kin folks they might have in Douglas County.  As it happens they are both lucky after all!  Champion! 

        A firefighter from over near Evans said that deer have eaten his entire broccoli planting.  He could understand it last year since everything was so dry and foodstuffs were in such short supply for the deer, but now it seems the animals have developed a taste for broccoli and are neglecting the fair nature routinely prepares for them.   Darlene’s sweetheart has been taking care of an orphaned deer and thinks he might bring it down to Champion since there are no resident dogs to keep it out of the tidy little garden there.  He might just be teasing.  Raccoons and possums are making a mess of things up in north Champion.  Some folks were thinking about getting a yard dog to at least bark when the pests come around the garden at night.  Then someone said a person would have to have two dogs because one would just lie on the porch and think to himself, “Look, there’s a raccoon in the garden.”  It takes that second dog for top-dog competition to spark the bark that scares the raccoon or at least wakes up the gardener who can go out with the shotgun and hope he does not shoot his own dog.  Monday morning found some unknown local dog owner alert to the fact that the dog met a skunk Sunday night.  That pain filled squealing bark was clearly heard during the night and confirmed by the wafting aroma through the otherwise quiet valley. 

        Says The General, “Have you ever wondered what went wrong when everything was going right?  Have you ever done something yesterday that you could have put off until today or next week?  Have you ever wasted your time reading or writing stupid questions?  Well, come to the Denlow School Reunion on 25 May 2013, waste my and your time and well put a stop to this.”  That is an invitation spread out like a thick swipe of warm mayonnaise across the whole of the World Wide Web via Facebook.  It is most generally figured that people who have some connection with the Denlow community of old will be the primary attendees to this soirée, though new arrivals, descendants of old timers, nosey neighbors, and a few rank strangers have been known to show up and all are welcome.  By late morning a crowd will gather and at about eleven o’clock repair inside for a full program of patriotism, history, fun and folly, led flawlessly by the venerated orator himself.  Then it is off to an exquisite pot luck luncheon and finally music and an auction in the pavilion where one might find any number of extraordinary items, the sale of which will benefit the reunion.   Last year Wayne and Jo Ann Anderson celebrated their 56^th wedding anniversary at the reunion.  Who knows what will happen this time!  The General says, “Come on down!”

        Linda spent some time in Kansas City this week at the high school graduation of her granddaughter.  It is a momentous occasion for families to gather in recognition and celebration of young people who are doing well and doing what they are supposed to be doing.  It is a step forward in to independent grown up life.  On their way to adulthood they will all have adventures, heartaches and successes and will handle those situations in the way they have been taught, by their parents and other family members, by teachers, preachers, pop-stars and peers.   Sometimes one comes to the revelation that he is an adult with a sense of incredulity.   This often happens to people in their forties when they look up and wonder who the ‘real adults’ are, only to find they are themselves.  While it can be a joyful observation that there is no ‘oversight’ committee and an adult can do pretty much as he pleases, it is also daunting to realize that an adult is completely, personally responsible for his own condition and circumstance.  Champions applaud the accomplishments of young people and wish them the best of good luck!

        This whole week up through Friday will be good for planting above the ground crops and for transplanting and doing all those good things in the garden.  Linda was busy making some wonderful red, white, and blue petunia hanging baskets for Memorial Day last week and they are really pretty.  Her bedding plants are looking good and she will have vegetable plants started and ready just at the right time for transplanting even if a gardener is running behind.  Champion gardeners are so pleased to have such a good neighbor.  Charlene has her own vegetable garden there at The Plant Place and the sisters have established a Perennial Garden where a person can sit on a bench and marvel at all the blooming beauty.  Enjoy Linda’s Almanac at www.championnews.us or on the bulletin board at The Champion Store. 

        Memorial Day week end finds friends and families gathering all over the country.  The sacrifices of those who serve the Nation in and out of uniforms are recognized with Love and Gratitude and the passing of loved ones is acknowledged with flowers and with precious shared memories. “Amazing Grace” and many other sweet songs will be sung to express patriotism and hope for the Nation.  Sing “Glory, glory, Hallelujah!” out on the spacious veranda of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  You’ll be looking out over the tranquility of one of the world’s truly beautiful places, Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 13, 2013

        Champion phone lines and internet services were fairly clogged with well-wishing sons and daughters hoping to get through to speak with their dear old Mothers on Sunday.  Monday finds the old darlings smiling and contented to have been remembered.  Some had the good fortune to see their offspring face to face.  Others have plans for a visit soon and look forward to it with optimism.  When the English, Irish, and Scotts made their trips to the New World back in the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries, most were on a one way, one time only voyage.  It was the same with the prairie schooners and wagon trains headed west across the country later on.  To look at a child departing for the unknown wild world with their heads full of hope and adventure must have weighed heavily on rooted parents that were left behind.  To know for a certainty that their eyes would never lite again on their precious child must have been a burden as they embraced for the last time.  Surely it would have been a struggle to present a expression of encouragement and enthusiasm as they looked at each other finally with determination to remember every line of the beloved face.   Stoic parents smiled and waved that handkerchief until their traveler has crested the hill or rounded the bend, out of sight forever.  Sometimes those who think idealistically that they were born in the wrong century might consider the hardships and heartaches of those times as well as the simplicity and romance.  Fledglings still must leave the nest and their parents must help.  Fortunately, in the 21^st century, there are telephones and airplanes and an appreciation for good change.   Champion!

        Elmer looked over at another good looking old gray haired old man the other day and said, “You and I are the old timers now.”   He said that he had never seen a year when so many of the old people had passed away.  It was observed that the older a person gets the more dead people he knows.   News has arrived of the passing of a lovely old friend.  She was an exciting, vibrant individual with a great love for good music of all kinds, and of good people of all kinds.  She wrote about her very special neighborhood, “…in which better friends and neighbors could not be found.  Now, it appears I am on my way out under the ministrations of Hospice Austin.  I’m almost 83 and I certainly don’t feel deprived after spending so many happy years in this town.  Love, Nancy.”  She was a gracious lady in life and departing it.  Those who love her are waving that handkerchief and smiling at the privilege of having known her. 

        Two of Linda Cooley’s grandchildren have birthdays in May and her own birthday is on Wednesday.  That is also the special day (May 15^th) for Miss Elizabeth Heffern of Springfield.  She has Champion grandparents and is therefore an amazingly lucky young lady.  The 16^th is the birthday of a tireless Skyline VFD Auxiliary worker, Karen Griswold.  She lives next door to a wonderful passel of grandchildren and so will be grandly celebrated.  Mr. Boardfeet is a Champion son living far away but not so far that he cannot be reached by telephone on his birthday, also on the 16^th.  Skyline prekindergarten student, Meikel Kline, will have his party on the 17^th.  The 18^th of May is always set aside among the good memories of one Champion daughter.  Exer Hector was born May 18, 1913 and passed away in 1975. “Dear Mother, Thirty eight years later, I still remember your face.”   Skyline first grader, Heidi Strong has her birthday on the 22^nd, sharing it with the charming Teresa Wrinkles, of Vanzant.  All her Champion friends wish her well and hope that something unexpected and wonderful happens for her that day, or the day before, or the next day…every day!

        Linda’s Almanac from over in Norwood indicates that the 14^th and 15^th will be most favorable for planting above-ground crops, seedbeds and flower gardens.  After that the next good time to plant will start on the 20^th and go through the 24^th.   The 18^th and 19th will both be good days to prune to discourage growth.   Find a copy of the Almanac on line at www.championnews.us or on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G&G in the city center.   Linda always has a copy of the Almanac to share up at The Plant Place, together with information, advice and encouragement vital for a fruitful garden.  A harried person, not fond of being continually told what to do, might look at the document with resentment, as it mandates the best days to plow, cultivate, plant, weed, harvest, prune, fertilize, transplant, wean , and a host of other farm chores.  Building such resentment would be a mistake (always).  The Almanac is better viewed as a tool so that even the most minimal effort might have the best chance of producing good results.   Then Mom can say, “Thanks for what little you did do!”  That is a special expression of Love and Gratitude.

        There were eighteen riders on Bud Hutchison’s Champion trail ride the other day.  Reports are that it was a pleasant trip to and fro and spectators came to admire the horses and see the party off.  Some stayed and waited happily for their return.   They figured rightly that there could be no more pleasant a spot to while away a few hours.    There were others that would like to have gone along, but circumstances stood in the way.  Obstacles sometimes make the journey more interesting, sometimes they end it all together.  Good hopes are that every cowboy who wants to ride gets to do so next time. Bob Wills sang a song written by Fred Rose.  “There’s a big rock in the road and it’s there blockin’ the road.  Lots of caress folks have found it so you better get around it.  There’s a big rock in the road.”   Sing your favorite traveling song on the spacious veranda down at the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.   While away a moment as you just stand still and enjoy the feeling of Spring in the air in one of the world’s truly beautiful places—Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!