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CHAMPION—July 30, 2012

          One Champion cast off her logical fear of lightening and stood grateful in the rain for a moment on her way to turn the sprinkler on in the garden.  The dust did not get settled out on the road, but for a moment the gentle drizzle seemed to wash away a great deal of stress.  Lingering aftereffects show up in Champion smiles.

          “The Olympics helps remind us what an awesomely diverse country we are.  We all came from other places and different people groups. There is no one American look. Yes, folks, that’s what helped make this country great. I love it! :),” says Terri Ryan on Facebook.  Champions appreciate the sentiment and appreciate Terri who teaches at Skyline and is a board member of the Skyline R-2 School Foundation.  School will start on the 15^th of August which will be here shortly.   August begins auspiciously with a full moon, the Green Corn Moon, on the first.   That is the birthday of Elitta January, who is so missed by so many.  Before school starts Skyla Boyd will have her thirteenth birthday.  That happens on the second of the month.   She will be in the seventh grade when school starts.  Saturday, the 4^th will find all the political candidates over at the Vanzant Community Center for a ‘forum’ and the Judge’s Mom will have a birthday on the 6^th, and then the 7^th will be the primary election and things will settle down a little.  Champions Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman will celebrate their Father’s birthday on the 8^th.  They do not care how old he is.  The 10^th and 11^th are the dates for the Skyline VFD Picnic and the 11^th will be the Fairview School Reunion.    On the 12^th the Champion resident, formerly known as Linda Dawson, will wake up to find that she has been married to Glen Cooley for fifty years!  It all started in Nampa, Idaho back in 1962.  They have children and grandchildren and plenty of reason to celebrate a golden anniversary.  Then Kinzeleigh Crain will celebrate her tenth birthday on the 14.^th She will be in the 4^th grade when school starts the next day.  That just covers part of what is happening in the first half of the month.  The second half will be just as busy and the month will end with another full moon.  That makes two full moons in one month and so it is the Blue Moon.  It is figured that the first one is just the regular one and the second one is Blue.    

          The General was over at the Up an At ‘Em 4-H Picnic on EE Highway Saturday night (probably on Friday too) raving on about the Blue Man.  The subject came up in a conversation about folklore and superstition in the Ozarks when he suddenly became very animated, urgently questioning if anyone had information concerning this Blue Man.  When he did not get the response he seemed to want, he made some furtive gesticulations, glancing about suspiciously, and directed the chat elsewhere.   Elsewhere was toward a nice young fellow named Tim, who was just about to take his second bite of a very good hamburger.  (The universal review by everyone at the picnic was, “Excellent burger! Excellent music!  Excellent fellowship with friends! )  It seems that Tim is new to the area and the General has taken it on himself to introduce him to this part of the world which has been described by some as the most deliberately unprogressive area in the Nation.  “Some is and some ‘aint.”  It is sort of a hit and miss proposition, progressively speaking, according to which holler a person might call home and when he got there.  It was certainly a ‘miss’ as the General was heard describing Champion as “just a little country store.”  That it lies on the broad and shady banks of Old Fox Creek at the bottom of several hills and the conjunction of various county roads at the very Beginning of the Pavement was not part of his description, which he confined to a vague motion of the arm in the approximate direction of Champion and said “It’s about twelve miles over there.”   He had nothing to say about how the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square additionally houses the library and the community meeting and game room as well as the art gallery and museum and that the charming Proprietress has a guest book signed there by people from all over the world.  Tim was not informed that Henson’s Downtown G&G has the most eclectic and complete inventory imaginable—wire nuts, calf starter and ice cream.  When he was able to get a word in edgewise, Tim  said he moved to the Ozarks for the easy living.  So sooner or later, with or without the help of his new friend, he will find his way to Champion and he will be glad!  Someone remarked that maybe one of the reasons the General so often makes friends with newcomers is that everybody around here already knows him.  Yes, and glad of it!  Champion!

          Get a look at Linda’s Almanac for August on line at www.championnews.us, or at the Plant Place in Norwood, or on the bulletin board at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.  According to it, the best dates in August for planting root crops will be 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, and 15.  Transplant on 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15.  Champions are urged to work only as hard as they can.  The weather is too harsh for unrestrained, jubilant hard work.  One is advised to head to the shade for the heat of the day.  Get down to one of the beautiful swimming holes in this glorious part of the world and chill out.

          The Flag Dedication Ceremony at the 4-H Picnic was very well executed and put the crowd into a reflecting mood.  If one does not know anyone personally who is currently fighting in Afghanistan or deployed to some other dangerous part of the word in the U.S. Military, that is probably because those serving only constitute about one percent of the population.  The whole population, however, participates in that the taxes paid and the votes cast ultimately have an effect on the soldier whose boots are on the ground.  For whatever reason the Nation requires service and sacrifice, they are doing it for the good of the whole.  Acknowledgement with Love and Gratitude is the appropriate gesture toward all those who have served. 

          The Skyline Auxiliary has a work meeting scheduled for Monday evening to get a start on getting the grounds in order for the big shindig.   Absent from the group is Esther Wrinkles who is flat on her back convalescing at the Autumn Oakes Caring Center.  The get well card that her friends sign does not account for how much she and her good energy are missed.   It will take any number of them to pick up the slack for all the things Esther routinely does for the Fire Department.  Champions wish a speedy recovery to one of their own. .

          Rainbows require a little rain.  It turns out, for scientific reasons, that each eye sees its own rainbow.   “There is a rainbow round my shoulder and the sky is blue above.  How the sun shines bright.  The word’s all right, ‘cause I’m in love.”  Sing your rain, rainbow, or love songs out on the porch at the Recreation of the Historic Mercantile in Downtown Champion.  Send them or any ideas about how to get Cowboy Jack on the U.S. Equestrian Team for the next Olympics to Champion at getgoin.net.  Come on down to Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—July 23, 2012

           Some Champions are busy this time of the year plucking, shelling, peeling and slicing–doing hot work in the kitchen.  Perhaps folks were just tougher in the old days or perhaps it was not so hot back then before air conditioning.  That air conditioners might somehow have contributed to the overall warmth of the weather is a quandary too touchy to ponder.   An informed Champion says that refrigerants no longer contain CFCs due to government regulation, but carbon is still the culprit when it comes to this kind of overheating.   Back to the kitchen, Aunt Eavvie Sharrock said, “Our freezer’s full and so’s our jars.  Not much is left but garden tares.  High cost of living, we’ve tried to beat it, if God will let us live to eat it.” She would have felt right at home in Champion. 

          Dear Champion and Champion friend, Esther Wrinkles, is in Mercy Hospital in Springfield as the result of having broken her hip very early Sunday morning.  Her family is pleased to report that the repair procedure went well and that Esther is in good spirits.  She will be transferred to a rehabilitation hospital in a couple of days.  Her mailing address is Route 1, Box 845 Vanzant, MO 75868, and notes of encouragement will find her wherever she has to be until she can get home again.  A speedy recovery is what her friends and family have in mind for her.   It does not appear that she will be able to make it to     the Skyline Picnic this year, but that is not a possibility that her friends in the Auxiliary are willing to consider at this point.  “Esther will surprise you.”  She has been a real worker for the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department since it first got started.  She is a ‘Founding Member,’ pie baking, quilt making, music loving, tireless supporter of this important organization.  The most recent quilt that she has contributed to the cause is on display down at Hensons Grocery and Gas on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  Address a Champion picture post card to Esther while you are down there and imagine the smile it will bring to her. 

          Go to the First Champion Tomato category at www.championnews.us to see some genuine sweet smiles.  One of them is on the face of Louise Hutchison, another Skyline Auxiliary Champion who has made pies, sold quilt tickets, and run the picnic bingo parlor for years and years.  Louise and Wilburn have some good help that lets them get out and about these days.  Hopefully, they will make it over to the EE Picnic this next week end.  They were there for the cool evening of the Vanzant festival, so perhaps their presence brings the cool factor.  No wonder they are so much in demand!

          Grace Crawford will be seven years old on the 25^th of July.  She will be in the second grade when school starts up this fall.  Taylor Blasius will be fourteen.  She has completed the eighth grade at Skyline and is moving on to high school.  Both of these young ladies have some excitement ahead of them.  Taylor’s mother has been very active in the Skyline School Foundation and really represents the concept that if you want to get something done, give it to the busiest person around.  That is Patricia, not just busy, but productive.  The School Foundation is doing some good work.  Already there are more than thirty members of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library receiving books every month as they learn the love of reading in preparation for starting school.  Boosting and supporting the students and faculty of the little rural school is certainly a worthwhile endeavor and Champions are looking forward to more from the Foundation as time goes by.  When the Fairview School Reunion happens on August 11^th, attendees will have a chance to contribute to this organization whose sole purpose is to perpetuate the positive school experience they remember so fondly.  Champion!

          When the Patriot Guard Riders attended the burial of Private Romualdas Prenskas the other day, they filled in the gap of missing family for this Veteran of the Viet Nam War.  He was born in Lithuania and joined the United States Army after he became an American citizen.  He was trained at Fort Leonard Wood.  Lithuania is in a part of Europe that was occupied by Nazi Germany and then by the Soviets when the World War II was over.  The War was over, but life was not easy in the Balkan states.  However Private Prenskas came to America and for whatever reason, he stood up to serve his new Nation.  With the exception of the indigenous peoples, the whole population of this area was made up of immigrants, the descendants of pioneers who came West from the Southern Appalachians.   They came mostly from the British Isles, some before the Revolutionary War, then through Kentucky and Tennessee over time and finally to the Ozarks.  People are still pouring in and out of this lovely part of the world and Champions acknowledge that everyone comes from somewhere.   They are just lucky to lite in Champion!

          Tuesday through Friday this week will be a good time for planting above the ground crops.  Thursday and Friday will be a good time to fertilize those things that are growing already.  So says Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood.  If water is available and some shade can be had or rigged there is some good growing season ahead still.  Get a look at that Almanac on the bulletin board at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium in the heart of the commercial district in Downtown Champion.  Stroll around and enjoy the view from the broad veranda.  ‘When you hear it thunder, don’t run under a tree’ is good advice from the song “Pennies from Heaven.”  This mention was made to clear up some confusion resulting from zealous expurgation.   Many old time locals, as well as new comers, find music to be an important aspect of a happy life.   Sing, “The night was dark and stormy.  The air was full of sleet.  The Old Man stepped out in the Yard and his shoes were full of feet.”  Do not, however, sing the rest of the song because you will be in Champion and therefore—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—July 16, 2012

                   The’ Dog Days of Summer’ have arrived in Champion.  They are said to have started on the third of July and will end on August 11^th.  They are the nice toasty days that will be well remembered in mid-December.  One old saying found in the book Ozark Magic and Folklore, published in 1947 by Vance Randolph, is that for every day in July that reaches one hundred degrees there will be a day in January that is twenty below.   “The only sure thing about the weather is that a dry spell always ends with a rain.”   This is a quote from Will Talbott, a Green County weatherman in 1930.  Champions concur with this piece of wisdom and add that a tea cup of rain does more good in the garden than a washtub of well water.  Some find a way to enjoy every kind of weather as an affirmation to being alive.  Champion!

          Stories are being told and retold about a canoeing adventure on Saturday down around Dora.  Krider, Watts, and Wiseman aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, nephews, sisters, mothers and grandmothers all floated gently downstream and some went over the waterfall several times.  There was only one report of a tipping over.  An aunt and nephew went into the drink.  It might have been as comical as the Near Drowning of Cowboy Jack, but not many details were revealed.  There seems to be some sensitivity about the incident, and so, in this case, names are being withheld to protect the chagrinned.

          Carol Barnhart, helping out with the Vanzant Picnic, makes a point to remind people interested that the Fairview School Reunion will be held August 11^th.  There will be plenty of time for people to enjoy their get-together and still make it over to Skyline for the second night of the picnic there.  The Summer Social Season is well under way.   Saturday’s unexpectedly cool and cloudy weather made the Vanzant Picnic, well, a real picnic!  First-rate music and food and great games for the kids were just the backdrop for a chance to see old friends and acquaintances for a pleasant visit.  Louise and Wilburn Hutchinson had a good time and said, “Hello” to a steady stream of friends throughout the evening. Master of Ceremonies, Steve Moody, the banker, (not to be confused with Ray Bradley the undertaker) did an excellent job of keeping everything moving.  He has the gift of gab and remembers everyone by name.  The politicians were out in full force.  They say that there will be a candidates forum there at the Vanzant Community Center on August 4^th just before the election and then things should settle down a bit.  It is to be noted that at this picnic and at the Skyline Picnic coming up that there are no conservative pieces of pie served.  They are liberal every one.  No one takes the right to vote for granted.   An overheard conversation at the picnic included the opinion that the absolute corporate control of American politics is being exposed with greater clarity than ever before.  If there were less profit to be made in war, there would be fewer wars.  This person said that the 2012 election will be most interesting in that the many issues of the greed of unregulated capitalism are as visible as they were prior to and during the great depression.  Champions made it through the great depression and came out of it stronger and smarter.  Still, most of them probably would not like to go through it again. 

          Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 19^th through the 23^rd will all be barren days.  It will be a good time to kill plant pests and do general farm work.  Then starting the 24^th through the 27^th signs will be favorable for planting crops that bear their yield above the ground.   Champions and others in the area are busy putting up as much food as they can.  Ruby Proctor was at the Vanzant Picnic the other evening and said that Barbara Jean has been canning green beans like crazy and putting lots of corn in the freezer.  Barbara has retired after many years with Mountain Grove High School and is enjoying her new freedom.  Ruby says she is working harder than ever in her retirement.  For some new retirees, work is play.  Linda will be in Champion Saturday to play bridge.   The Champion player will host the Fortnight Bridge Club and is planning to make that excellent desert that gets served at Henson’s Downtown G &G when the Skyline Auxiliary meets there.   It is a treat when friends share their good receipts. 

          Patriot Rider, Tom Cody, was happy to report that his group had just escorted a returning soldier home to his family, whole in life and limb.  The Patriot Riders and a number of other motorcycle clubs put themselves between families who are grieving the loss of a beloved U.S. Service Member and a certain religious/political group with a mean spirited agenda-driven stutter that they use to avoid actual thought.  Champions think that Love and Gratitude are the sentiments to lavish on those who step up to do what their Nation asks of them.          

          A rainmaking ritual used in extreme drought requires that an innocent child draw a turtle in the sand and then a circle around the turtle and then dance around the circle in a clockwise direction pausing and asking for rain at each cardinal point.  There is plenty of sand in Champion to try out the ceremony.   “Oh, every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.  Don’t you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?  You’ll find your fortune falling all over town.  Be sure that your umbrella is upside down…..So when you hear it thunder, don’t run under a tree.”  That is good advice about not running under a tree.  Explain your own rain-making superstitions, sing your favorite rain song, or give good advice at Champion at getgoin.net or in person out on the porch down at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North side of the Square.   The word of the week is “compel.”  It is just a pretty sounding word–compelling.  When in Champion, one is compelled to Look on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—July 9, 2012

           In Champion the delicious rain was well received though it put some in the dark temporarily.  There was no complaint to be had, even as some will be hauling brush or standing their corn back up.  Official Champion rain gauges measured over an inch and spots up in North Champion had water closer to the two inch mark in their upturned buckets.   The relief from the heat stress is palpable and the whole atmosphere is relaxed had happy.  Champion!

           The power outage may have come at an inconvenient time for those in the dairy barn, but they are well prepared and accustomed to adapting to adverse conditions quickly when it is necessary.  It will be a most interesting account to hear what Kalyssa has to say about getting her milking chores done.  She is quite an enthusiastic farm girl.  Local Future Farmers, at a very young age, probably already know more about many important things than do many a middle aged city dweller.   They are Champions!   An influx of Krider cousins is expected mid-week, with grandchildren pouring in from Tennessee and North Missouri, and all over.  What fun!  Hopes are that some grand photos will be taken out on the steps at the Mercantile over on the North Side of the Square—memory makers. 

                   Skyline sixth grader Ceiara Carroll will be twelve years old on the 14^th of July.  Kailyn Calhoun will have her fifth birthday on the 15^th and will be in kindergarten when school starts.  Ceiara most likely knows that her birthday is Bastille Day, which is the French equivalent of the 4^th of July.  It marked the end of the monarchy and beginning of the modern republic.  The lasting significance of the event was in its recognition that power could be held by ordinary citizens, not in the king or in God.  The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe is held on the morning of July 14^th in Paris to celebrate French National Day.  Happy Birthday Ceiara and Kailyn!

           The debris and litter left after the 4^th of July Parade in Downtown Champion could have been gathered up in a small tea cup.  Such a tidy lot!  Bags of ice went out the door of the Historic Emporium as revelers headed off to the creek.   Emergency picnic supplies and necessities were on hand plentifully and the community is much gratified to have its needs met so well by Henson’s Downtown G & G!  Down at the creek and out on the porch conversations covered a wide range of subjects.  One was heard to say that those we now call ‘Patriots’ were just a bunch of rabble rousing misfits and malcontents.  This sentiment was accepted with the addendum that they also be recognized as having been brilliant and courageous.  The longest standing Constitution in the world now, it begins with the word, “We.”  Similarities were drawn between players in the current political scene and the ‘Tories’ of the Revolution.  One said, “You are what you eat and you become what you hate.”  There is definitely food for thought there.

           New voter registration cards have Champions voting at Skyline now for all the elections.  According to one election official, it is a matter of saving money for the county by consolidating voting districts.   

           Annual gatherings give friends a yard stick by which to measure their own progress for the year as well as the chance to watch the communities’ grandchildren grow and flourish.  It is delightful to see what excellent parents the children of friends have become.  They are every bit as protective and unreasonable as their own parents were.  “In 1860 I used to go to see a pretty little gal in Georgia and dearly she loved me.  She promised she would marry me as soon as the war was over.  She said we’d live together just like chickens in the clover.”  It is sweet to see old couples still grousing in the same way thirty years later.   They are still impatient with one another, but more accepting.  Some have mellowed in charming and unexpected ways.   Champions all hope to age as gracefully as do their precious friends and neighbors and are content to live like chickens in the clover.

           The break in the weather is a gift to gardeners.  Linda’s almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that root crops planted on the 13^th and 14^th will yield well.  Those will also be good days for transplanting.   Linda’s staggeringly beautiful garden was on display as she hosted the regular Fortnight Bridge game on Saturday night.  That plot of land feeds a great number of people and it is a joy to see.  She has good help and has had many years to perfect her art.  Her degree is in horticulture and her life experience adds an otherwise unattainable credential.  The bridge game was pleasantly augmented by a Sterling visitor.  This lovely young woman is a beginning bridge player and is studying to become a watchmaker.  The aptitude required to work with the minute elements that comprise such mechanical marvels is awe inspiring.  Linda is an excellent host and her guests generously share their exciting friends with each other.  The Champion player came in with the low money and thus broke even in the game financially.  She did come out ahead with cucumbers and squash and another pleasant memory.

           Sue Upshaw is receiving get well cards at the Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston, MO, 65483.  She has taken a fall and will be a while in the recovery process.  Meanwhile it was observed that her spirits were much lifted by the good wishes of her many friends and family.  Keep them coming!  One will circulate through the Skyline VFD Auxiliary Meeting on Tuesday the 10^th.  Sue and her family have always been big supporters of the Skyline VFD and her presence will be sorely missed if she is unable to attend the Skyline Picnic this year.  Get well soon, friend. 

           Good news pertinent to Champion is welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion at getgoin.net.  Look for the fun at www.championnews.us or circulate through the Square.  It is at the beginning of the pavement, at the bottom of some hills, where several county roads converge, on the banks of Old Fox Creek.  It is Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side.

CHAMPION—July 2, 2012

           Champion was much in the spotlight this last Friday as people poured out from surrounding towns and communities to attend the first all-city yard sale on the Square in Historic Downtown. For many, it was a first opportunity to get a good look at the place which has been likened to the Light shining out of the East and described as the Very Jewel of Central Douglas County. Champion!
  

This initial foray into a community market day proved to be quite the success, particularly in light of the temperature and the distance from other major shopping areas.  A movement is afoot to repeat the performance sometime in the fall, maybe mid-September when the days will surely be a little cooler and the air will be sufficient to fill the bellows of the General’s accordion.  Music is frequently part of the fun in Champion, so the many talented local artistes will have yet another opportunity to participate in a rich community life.   A number of locals, who retreat inside for the heat of the day, are beginning to gather their thoughts on just what items they might like to put in the next yard sale.  Sometimes cash is better than ‘things’ and a thing no longer useful to one might be just what the next person needs. 

          Kyra Collins will have her birthday on Friday the sixth of July and Tiffany Thornhill will celebrate on Sunday the 8^th.  They are both marking their twelfth birthday and will be in the sixth grade at Skyline this fall.  That may seem like a long time away to them, but it will go by in a hurry.  Older people routinely speak of the swift passage of time. 

          Esther Wrinkles had a beautiful birthday celebration over at the Vanzant Community Center on Saturday.  It was hosted by her sons and their families.  She may well have received a card for every one of her 95 years.   A pair of shockingly pink flamingos was the gift of someone who knows Esther’s fun loving personality and there was much interest in just where she will place them in her yard.   Already the General is concerned that they will be wandering over into his yard.  He is fairly persnickety about his lawn. His many flaws seem to be offset by his fabulous peanut butter ice cream.  There were buckets of it, and of a luscious vanilla that was enhanced favorably by some succulent peach cobbler, and then, of course, there was the peach ice cream.   Skillfully decorated birthday cakes and tasty brownies all made for a splendid party.  The best thing though was seeing how much joy is to be had in sharing Love, Gratitude, and Appreciation for each other among dear friends, neighbors and family.  Monday morning Esther was still smiling.  She said that she was a little tired, but that she was so thankful for everyone who made the party happen and to everyone who came.  It was a special day for a real Champion. 

          The Vanzant Community Center is a great place to hold a party.  It is air conditioned and this time of the year that is important.  A note on the bulletin board there said that the 13^th and 14^th of July will be the Vanzant Community Picnic.   The swift passage of time is evident again.   The Up and At ‘Em Holt 4H Picnic will be rolling around again soon and, of course the Skyline VFD picnic will kick off on August 10^th.  Jeff Pardeck from over at the White River Valley Electric Cooperative in Branson has granted another $100.00 worth of electric power to be awarded to some lucky supporter of the Fire Department.  White River has been doing this for Skyline for more than ten years now.  They are nice folks over there and good neighbors.  Soon the picnic quilt will be on display over at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.    There were fifteen members in attendance at the last Skyline Auxiliary meeting there on the 27^th of June and the next meeting is scheduled for the 10^th of July at 6:30 in the evening.  The newly air-conditioned meeting room at Henson’s G & G can accommodate a sizeable number of people and the picnic organizational meetings are a perfect time for Skyline Fire District Members to get acquainted with each other and to contribute their good ideas and good energy.  Volunteer fire departments are essential parts of thriving rural communities.  Someone noted that the population of the area is growing, but the average age is also increasing.  Young folks are in short supply and much needed!   

          Harley is missing his granddaughters.  Their lives are filling up and they do not come around as much as they used to.  What is important at one age may not seem to be such a big deal at another time in life.  The swift passage of time might catch up with these ‘whippersnappers’ yet.  It is a universal issue felt by many over the years.  One old Champion wonders if she neglected the old people she loved so.  Probably she did.  Esther Howard has a good perspective on the process.  She says to just enjoy it.

          Ira Glass is a radio personality and the second cousin of composer Phillip Glass.   Phillip told Ira in an interview, “People do not know what they like.  They like what they know. “   That is a very interesting statement and one that can be applied to more than music.  It is less easy, as people age, to stay receptive when it comes to new things.  Someone said that the tendency to romanticize the past makes it difficult to recognize how lovely the present might be.   These are the kinds of thoughts that keep things lively among the Saturday Philosophy Club which holds its early morning meetings out on the porch at the Historic Emporium now being referred to as the “G & G.”  They retreat to the air conditioned meeting room later in the morning.  Linda’s Almanac for July is posted there and so Cowboy Jack will have time to study it with the hopes of getting a few vegetables in yet.  The 9^th and 10^th will be good planting days.  It turns out that there are lots of ripe tomatoes in Champion already and it is not that gardeners do not share, they do.  They are just not interested in the acclaim and so the First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest has officially been called a draw because Champions are a noble lot. 

          “Oh!  Beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain!”  Independence Day is a chance to recognize the service of Veterans and those currently defending the lovely Constitution of the United States, to sing some patriotic songs, to get together with friends for an annual renewal of old acquaintances and to get feet wet in cold creeks.  It is an opportunity to hear what common and wide ranging thoughts friends and neighbors have about gardening, health, politics, weather, art, music and philosophy in general.  One noted recently that for every individual interested in a given subject, there is a different valid perspective.  Differences are, after all, what most people have in common.  Tolerance and mutual respect are the glues that hold dissimilar attitudes together in one great Nation—the melting pot.  Huzza!  Eat your ice cream before it melts, out on the porch.  Get a good view of Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

 

 

 

CHAMPION– June25, 2012

           A Champion off in distant places occasionally meets up with a music promoter who is given to drink.  While never totally inebriated, he seems to be half way there continually.  He has grandiose schemes for the advancement of his musician friends and is want to sprinkle his prose with the word ‘opperchancity.’  Upon first hearing it, the Champion thought, “What an interesting misspeak,” but subsequently he found that it is just a part of the publicist’s lexicon of drunk-speak.   Still, it is an interesting word that goes along nicely with the Champion Word of the Week, ‘impetus,’ which is anything that stimulates activity; driving forces or motive; incentive; impulse.  “The Champion impetus is to maximize every pleasant opperchancity.”  What a place!

          The opperchancity for some ‘porch-picking’ is here.  Friday, the General himself has been invited to bring his guitar up on the porch at Hensons’ Grocery and Gas over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion to entertain shoppers and visitors.   Some delusional person suggested that he might bring his accordion or, at the very least, some musical friends.  It will be the first ever ‘last Friday of the month Champion porch-picking’ and area musicians are encouraged to dilute the program.

          The Old Grandfather of Tar Button Road celebrated his birthday on the 25^th of June and the 26^th had Sweet Dancing Nancy of Westava just in the planning stages of her own festivity.   Casey Boyd, Skyline 8^th grader, and Devin Scott, second grader, also celebrate that day as their own.  River Clunn, a Skyline fourth grader will be nine on the second of July.  Summer school is still in session at Skyline and the busses seem to be jolly as they roll down the scenic country roads.  The 28^th is the birthday of Ester Wrinkles, but her party will be on Saturday, the 30^th.   Friends will gather over at the Vanzant Community Center from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. to make merry on the occasion of her 95^th birthday.   Friday the 29^th is the birthday of Mrs. Eva Powell and of KZ88 Radio personality, Butch Kara.  Champions are hoping they will both make it down to the square in Downtown Champion to join in the fun of a community day.   It is presumed that there will be at least one oration of the “Near Drowning of Cowboy Jack” during the day and perhaps some new adventures will be recounted of the Crystal Creek Gang or of the Fox Trot Follies.

            Get well cards are in the mail to Sue Upshaw who has taken a fall.  Her many friends are hoping that her fractures will heal in short order and that she and her pleasing smile will soon be back out among them.   Someone said that an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward.  When life is dragging you back with difficulties, just imagine that it’s going to launch you into something great.  At some point, however, one hopes for more gentle launchings.   Neighbors over at Mad Goat Flats seem to have had a nice launching of a worthwhile community enterprise.  A vacuum has been filled in a most pleasant manner and Champions applaud the initiative!

          Route 2, Champion mail carrier, Karen Ross (not Goss or Doss) has already canned 32 quarts of green beans!  She lives up on top of Whetstone Hill and some Champions think that her elevation and sunny location is the reason for her great agricultural success.  Others know it is on account of her hard work and her accumulated knowledge of garden lore.   Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that from the 26^th all the way through the 3^rd of July will be a good time to plant crops that bear their yield above the ground.  Get a good look at the new Almanac on the bulletin board at the Historic Emporium in Downtown Champion or at www.championnews.us.   It is available up at The Plant Place too.  Linda will soon get a good visit with her granddaughter who has just returned from a two week school trip to Spain.  Linda is excited to hear the details.  So far all she has heard is that Danielle had a good time but did not really care for the food.  Olivia, Charlene’s granddaughter, is visiting from Florida.  She will be nine in October and is quite a charming young lady.  Grandson, Harper, has been visiting over at Teeter Creek with his Rock and Roll Grandma and will have some good stories to tell when he goes back home to Arizona. 

           The Skyline Auxiliary will have its meeting on Wednesday the 27^th for the purposes of planning the Skyline VFD Picnic.  It is an exciting time of the year in Champion.  Friends are excited at the possibility that Louise Hutchison will make it to the meeting.  The organization has felt a void for some while now and it will feel whole again to have her there.   Connie Lansdown spends a lot of time with Louise and Wilburn and reports that they are doing fine.  She also wanted to make a special point of saying how very much their family appreciated all the calls, cards, and letters and all the wonderful food that people brought for them during recent weeks when they were experiencing a succession of sad losses.  Family members came in from out of state and it was a difficult time made less so by the compassion and kindness of the community.  Connie says genuinely, “Thank you, everyone.” 

          Buffy St. Marie is a folk singer who has written many interesting songs.  One is “If You Ask Me.”

She says, “He’s got shoulders like a mountain and a smile like a sunny day, the patience of a gardener and the will to find a way.  We love him more than tongue can tell and more than song can sing.  He’s a pretty good man, if you ask me.”  Husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, grandfathers and friends in Champion can have this song sung about them on their birthday or on any day of the week.  The Veterans and those serving currently can have it applied to them as well with Love and Gratitude.   One of the rules about living a Champion life is, “When it is good, say so.”  So Champions are pleased to say they love their men folk and their soldier folk.  Send your favorite ’when it’s good say so song’ to Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion@getgoin.net.   Come on down to the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square at the end of WW where the banks of Old Fox Creek flatten out to incorporate all the placid beauty that is Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

 CHAMPION—June 18, 2012

          Tom Toles is a prominent national cartoonist and commentator who said that May is the very best month, except for June which is better.  Champions are in agreement and are very much enjoying a busy time of the year and these particularly good days.

          Young Champion future farmers had a good showing at the Tri County Fair in Mountain Grove this last week.  Jenna and Jacob Brixey of the Brixey Jersey Farm, had cousins Maddax and Tyler Klingensmith visiting from Springfield and Justin and Jason Schutter from Kirksville.  Together with Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman of Fox Creek Farms they showed their Jersey calves in three different classes and it is reported that they all did quite well.  They handled the animals well and deported themselves like true Champion young lady and gentlemen farmers.   The Fox Creek Rodeo was the precursor to the fair. Conflicting theories for calf roping were still being discussed between the sisters and their spouses days later together with a fanciful description of a butt butting episode that sent Harley home to Barbara.  (There are no worries that he will be offended by this report.  He just reads the first sentence of each paragraph.)  

          Neighbors over at Vanzant had a blow out of a pie supper on Saturday to benefit the Vanzant Community Center and to get a start on preparations for the annual Vanzant Picnic.  The Summer Social Season has arrived with the first of many exciting community activities.  Everyone cannot attend everything, but some are giving it a good try.   A certain coconut cream pie brought a lot of attention when the auction got started the other night.  People were bidding via the telephone all the way from Kansas City and other places, just like they do in big auction houses in New York and London.  It is reported to have been very exciting as Bobby Dean Emery out bid the phone bids to the tune of $315.00!  Another pie by the same venerable pie-maven brought $260.00 from Ron Wood.  The loosing phone bidder had wanted to be there so badly that he pledged a sizeable donation to the community center.  It speaks favorably of a community that can draw such consideration.  Even with the constabulary out of town, there were no reports of untoward, rowdy or disruptive behavior, though it is a given that the General was there and that wonders, indeed, do not cease. 

          The Skyline Auxiliary had a pleasant meeting on the 12^th and has another one scheduled for the 27^th.  It will be at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room at Hensons Grocery and Gas over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  There were nine in attendance at last Tuesday’s meeting and the beginning plans for the Skyline VFD Picnic were initiated.  Anyone in the Skyline Fire District is welcome to attend the Auxiliary meetings to see how this great little organization operates and new members are most welcome.  The Skyline Picnic always takes place on the second week end in August, so this year it will be August 10^th and 11^th.  The Fairview School Reunion will be August 11^th too, but it is earlier in the day.  The picnic generally starts at about 6 in the evening, so there will be plenty of time to attend both.  The election will be over by then, so a person will not have to elbow his way past the politicians to get to the pie!

          Rusty Darnell of Joe Bass Team Trail makes a good emcee.  He performed that service for the Skyline School Foundation at their recent fishing tournament.  Rod Crain and Stormy Williams were the first place winners with 13.24 pounds of fish.  They also won the Big Bass Prize for one that weighed 3.32 pounds.  Lane Nance and Les Loftis were second with 10.71 pounds and Dennis Watson and Jim Kirkland came in third with 10.33 pounds.   Skyline School Board member, Brian Sherrill organized this affair with the help of Foundation Board member, Tim Scrivner, and a number of other people.  They counted it as a genuinely worthwhile exercise and plans are in the works to make it an annual event.    It is great to know that so many are interested in helping this fine organization which is dedicated to the students of the Skyline School District.  The Nation’s rural schools need all the help they can get.  The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the umbrella under which the Skyline School Foundation operates to help about a hundred country kids.  Champion! 

          One Champion gardener, trying to be organic, put some sticky traps out in the garden to catch some of the pests that seem so plentiful.  This is a viable approach, but gardeners are cautioned to use the right kind of sticky trap.  Industrial strength glue traps for mice catch honeybees too, and that is not good.  Champions are very protective of their wild honeybees.   Gardeners rely on them to pollinate their crops and to share their sweet honey.   Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 20^th and 21^st will be most fruitful days for planting above the ground crops and then again from the 26^th to the 28^th.  Hope Sandoval sings a sweet love song about “Butterfly Mornings and wildflower afternoons.”  The folks over at Teeter Creek Herbs say that butterfly weed is also called Pleurisy Root.  It is a favorite of butterflies and of the Native Americans and pioneers who used the root to relive pain and resolve symptoms of pleurisy and pneumonia, dry lingering coughs and fever.  It is one of the easy native plants to identify with its bright orange flowers and, of course, the butterflies.    A gardener is also cautioned to stay in his own garden to stay satisfied with it.  Venturing over to Linda’s garden or to Janet and Sandy Chapin’s garden out in Eastern Douglas County will cause one’s own inadequacies to blossom.  Janet and Sandy just hosted a pleasant gathering in honor of their daughter, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Dana Chapin, who has been reassigned from the East coast to the West coast and happily passed by the old home place on her way to her new station.  She is a dynamic young woman and her family and friends here appreciate her service.  To all those serving the Nation and all her Veterans, Champions extend their Love and Gratitude. 

          Evans is a spot around the corner and down the road from Champion.  Fred Follis has been telling people that Evans is about to celebrate 75 years of being depicted on maps.  He did not say how this distinction would be celebrated but there was some mention of the New East Dogwood School Reunion.  Inquiries will be made.   “Who are you calling a clod?” asks a sometimes Champion in response to James Russell Lowell’s poem.  “Anyhow, you messed up when you were trying to tell people how to get to Champion from Mountain Grove.  If you turn ‘east’ off 95 on to 76, you are not headed to Denlow or Skyline at C!  You’d be headed off for EE or Big Ed’s down there on the way to Willow.”  Well, a good re-read shows the ‘clod’ to be correct this time.  A person who does not already know where Champion is and who is genuinely interested in knowing might look on a county road map, might Google up ‘Champion, Missouri’ or might go with the GPS device, though the last word was that the reading is off by a couple of miles.  If you get that close to Champion and have not found it, just ask the first person who comes along.   He will tell you to go on down to the bottom of the hill, where the pavement ends, where country roads meet, on the wide beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek to Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 11, 2012

          “And what is so rare as a day in June?  Then, if ever, come perfect days.”  So said James Russell Lowell (1819-1891).  The poem from which these lines are taken is full of keen observations about the value of natural beauty.   “Every clod feels a stir,” says he, and so it is in Champion!  “With the deluge of summer” near, Champion hearts revel in the lovely here and now.   Monday’s deluge of delicious rain was also most welcome.

          Emerson Rose and Eli Oglesby have been visiting their grandmother in Champion and having lots of fun with their sweet cousins.  Their aunt Linda Krider Watts will have a special birthday on the 21^st of June this year.   The first day of summer has been a special occasion for her family for well over three decades now.   Champion granddaughter, Sierra Parsons, who resides in Portland, Oregon, will be some undisclosed teenage age, maybe in the neighborhood of seventeen, but it does not matter.    Already a very talented artist, she has a great sense of style that may render her hair any color and her lipstick any shade.   She carries with her the self-assured, buoyant optimism that people remember themselves as having had at that age, though truly few ever did.  She has her Grandparents impressed and that is always good.  Alyssa Strong will be nine years old on the 23^rd of June.  She is a fourth grader at Skyline  School.  Nicholas, who lives over off Tar Button Road will celebrate his birthday on the 25^th.  He is an elder.  That is to say, “He is Old,” no telling how old.  Some young people refer to him as Grandfather, a role that he embodies with reverence.   Casey Boyd will be in the eighth grade this year and will have his 14^th birthday on June 26.  Devin Scott will be eight that day and will be a big second grader.  Summer school is in full swing over at Skyline and teacher, Terry Ryan, is reporting the Friday trips to the pool in Ava are being lots of fun. 

          Neighbors over at Vanzant will be enjoying the pies and the fun of the Saturday Night Pie Supper that is being held to benefit the Vanzant Community Center, which is turning out to be the very Jewel of Eastern Douglas County.  Of course, Champion is the Jewel of Central Douglas County and Ava can be the Jewel of Western Douglas County.  The other day someone asked, “Just where is Champion? “  Well, if a person were traveling to Champion from Norwood, he would go south on Highway C for about 14 miles and would make a left turn on WW Highway.  He would have passed the Skyline School at the corner of C and 76 Highway and would have gone on to WW, the first paved road on the left.  Two miles or so east on WW is Champion, clearly marked with shiny new MODOT signs.   If a person were coming from Ava, he would have to come out east on 14 Highway because of the timely work on the Bryant Creek Bridge on 76.  It is about seventeen miles to Evans, where he would then make a left on Highway C, traveling north.  Three or four miles north on C meets the intersection with WW and a person would make a right turn there and travel on down to the lovely burg.  From Mountain Grove, one might go south on 95 and then east on 76 to C, then on down to WW, and thence Champion.  From Gentryville, it is west on 14 to C and then north as before.  However, if you were coming from Drury, you might just go to V Highway and turn west.  Travel on the pavement for a mile or so and then just as the road makes a nice ninety degree turn to the left, a pretty dirt road takes off straight ahead.  That’s the road for you and if you bear neither to the left or the right, but stay the central course, in good time you’ll be in Champion and glad of it.  Once there, take the time to explore the Square.  Enjoy refreshments on the broad veranda at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium.  If you need some calf starter, some bailing twine for your bailer, a frozen pizza, certain plumbing parts, or just a cookie and a nice cup of coffee, Champion is the place to be. 

          A well-known, life-long resident of Champion and a self-admitted logophile was anxious to learn the New Word of the Week early, and he was told that it would probably be ’lugubrious’ because of the comical sound of the word.  But it turns out that the word means sad, mournful, gloomy, melancholy, and sombre,  none of which is at all in keeping with the feeling of Champion and so it has been replaced with ‘stellify’ which means to change or to be changed into a star.  “Champion has been stellified in the memories of former residents who sadly must now live elsewhere.”

          Champions did not forget that D-day was last week and that Father’s Day is this coming Sunday.  There is always plenty to celebrate and Champions are particularly pleased with their Veterans and their Fathers.   Champion gardens are luscious.  The bugs like everything.  Deer and rabbits are having their fill of people-vegetables and gardeners are making the adjustments required and taking the preventative steps available to save as much of the harvest as possible.  Linda’s Almanac is available for inspection at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion or at www.championnews.us.   It says that the 16^thand 17^th will both be good days for planting root crops and will be good days for transplanting.   The moon sign will change then and the 20^th and the 21^st will be favorable for above the ground crops again.  A Champion Veteran sings, “By the light of the silvery moon, I want to spoon. To my honey, I’ll croon love’s tune.  Honeymoon, keep a-shining in June.  Your silvery beams will bring loves dreams, we’ll be cuddling soon by the Silvery Moon.”  In Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

          A chance trip around the county was an opportunity to marvel at the beauty of a place like this.  The roadsides are strewn with Echinacea, butterfly weed, Queen Anne’s lace and an occasional purple musk thistle.  In places where the hay has been cut and rolled, the manicured fields show the care farmers have for their land, and in places where the hay has yet to be cut some meadows are waving high in mixed hues that reflect May’s dry weather and sudden new growth green.  Roiling clouds in blue shades moved by unseen swift winds filter and shift the light, or the sun breaks through to immortalize a moment somewhere along the lovely way home to Champion.  

          Monday morning found the school bus rolling down the road to Skyline as summer school begins.  Some of the great kids celebrating summertime birthdays are Ashlee Dean who will be nine on the 9^th and Rose Penn who will be nine on the 10^th.   Adeline Homer will be eight on the 12^th of June.  She will be in the second grade.  Glenn Dylan Ford will be eleven on the 13^th and on that day Wyatt Hicks will have his seventh birthday.  Zachary Coon will be six on the 15^th and so the first grade will be his destination.  Champion grandson, Foster Wiseman, will have his birthday on the 16^th.  He is growing up quickly, as are all these delightful young folks.  Summer school students will be brushing up their academic skills while having lots of fun including a trip to the Ava pool on Fridays.  Students do not have to live in the Skyline district to attend.  It will be exciting to hear more about the first annual Skyline R2 Foundation Bass Fishing Tournament.  The foundation is a new organization and it is off and running for the benefit of the area students.  The Dolly Parton Imagination Library program is a fine example.   There is information available about it at the school as well as at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion. 

          Harley and other Champion logophiles (people who love learning new words) have a couple of interesting specimens this week.  “Retrouvaille,” is a noun that means the joy of meeting or finding someone again after a long separation; rediscovery.  In a sentence, “The broad expanse of the shady veranda at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium is frequently the scene of nostalgic retrouvaille as visitors come and go.”  The other new word is “paucity.”   It means a lack of, or a rarity and was used last week in an article entitled “What About This…?”  An example of its use not found in the article but rather about the article is, “The paucity of tolerance for an Irishman by an Italian was ironically demonstrated thru copious declarations with many raised glasses of a very nice Chianti.”  On an unrelated note, it has been pointed out that ‘they’ is now being accepted as the third person personal pronoun, effectively doing away with ‘he’ and ‘she.’   For one particular Champion, the evolution of language seems sadder than they expected. (It just seems wrong.)

          Pete Proctor is not sad.  He just returned home last Wednesday from a two week trip to Virginia with his son Bryan and his family.  He was sorry to have missed the Denlow School Reunion, but he had a good time touring all the memorials in Washington D.C.   They took a lot of good photographs, one of which is of Pete touching the name of his friend, Terry, on the Viet Nam Wall.  Terry was from Tennessee and they were roommates for five months before Terry was killed.   At the World War II Monument, they ran into a bunch of Veterans from Baltimore.   Most of them were in wheelchairs, Pete said.   The Korean War Memorial was very eye-catching.   There are 19 statues representing all the Armed Services and an ethnic cross section of America.  The figures are wearing ponchos and seem to be walking up a hill with the cold winter wind at their backs, talking to one another.  Overall, it was an experience that Pete hopes every Veteran can have.  It would be a learning experience for any citizen, worth the time and trouble it takes to get there.  Bryan is stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.  Pete is happy to know that he will be retiring in November and will move back to Mountain Grove.  His wife, Jamie, whom he met when they were both in the Service, and their two children nine year old, Tristan, and seven year old, Laney, have been living with Pete since February.  The kids love the Mountain Grove Schools.  Everybody will be glad when Bryan gets home.  This was a great trip for the family, particularly for Pete who has been the Post Commander for VFW Post 3770 for some while now and will continue to be active in this great organization though Archie Dailey will take over as the new commander shortly.   Those men do a good job of keeping those who serve in the thoughts of those who do not have to.  Champions! 

          Esther Wrinkles reports that there will be a Pie Supper to Benefit the Vanzant Community Center on June 16^th.  On the occasion of this benefit, someone suggested that candidates for office should pay double their bid on the pies just for the chance to glad-hand.  This lovely little building is certainly seeing some good use these days.  In addition to various musical pot-luck dinners open to the public, some area residents are hiring the building for private parties.   There was a report of a Good Neighbor of the Month award ceremony that was so surprising that the recipient grew hair!  He must have been bribing the sponsors over at the North Town Mall of Mad Goat Flats with peanut butter ice cream.  They say it is really good, but only ‘select’ Champions ever get a taste of it.  It would seem that we are neighbors, but just not all that close.  Perhaps the occasion of the Fairview School Reunion coming up August 11^th will be a convenient time to remedy some presumed slights.  The Skyline VFD Picnic will be that day too, so there will be plenty opportunity to prove its reputation—a peanut butter ice cream dream. 

          Frank Sinatra would have said that dreams are being fashioned in June when summertime is new.  He was right.  It is a delicious time when the garden is starting to produce and has not yet succumbed to drought, pestilence and disease.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place says that the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th will be a good time to plant late beets, potatoes, onions, carrots and other root crops.  The 9^th will be a particularly good time to transplant.  Check it all out at www.championnews.us, at the Plant Place, or on the new bulletin board at the Historic Mercantile located at the bottom of some green hills, at the edge of a famous creek where the dirt roads and pavement collide.    Sing your favorite June song out on the spacious veranda.   Following an extended saxophone solo, Frank sang, “You’re the ghost of a romance in June going astray, fading too soon, that’s why I say, ‘Farewell to you, Indian Summer.’” Goodbye, Indian Summer.   Hello Champion!—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 28, 2012

          Most Champions know that the “Ag News” program comes on TV very early in the morning—very early.   Several were up early enough to hear it Saturday when it was reported that Missouri is flooded!  Cries rose up out of darkened Champion farm houses in the pre-dawn hours:  “Where?”  “We’re not we-et!”  “Bring it on!”  “Whhore’s ma boat?”  (Where is my boat?) Or in the case of a certain cowboy, “Whar’s my horse?”   From Coonts Holler to Champion, wherever Rowdy might caper, it is sure he is leaving his hoof prints deep in dry, sifting sand.   Champions have turned off their televisions and have gone out to water the garden. 

           A prominent occasional Champion denizen remarks that he enjoys taking his ease out on the broad, elegant veranda at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium where he and the fellows can contemplate new words.   “Sylvan” is the word of the day.  It refers to an association with the woods, with that which inhabits the woods, is made of tree materials or comprises the forest itself.   Used in a sentence:  “Champion’s sylvan surroundings embrace the serenity of the bucolic scene.”

          Some Champions are worried about the hummingbirds.  By this time of the year, in years past, the chore of keeping the feeders filled has been a delight but truly a chore as the voracious little critters kept things humming outside the windows.  This year Champions are reporting just having one or two pairs.  The Missouri Department of Conservation Ombudsman, Tim Smith, up in Jefferson City talked to the State Ornithologist who said that he is not aware of an overall decline in the population.  As their migration is triggered by day length, the unusually early spring here caused regular flowering plants to be past their prime already when the birds came through, so they just kept going.  He said that some areas are reporting a larger than usual population.  The dry weather may mean that only as many hummingbirds as the area can support will be entertaining here this season.  Champions are pleased with every one they see and do not take them for granted.  They are making smaller batches of food for their feeders and changing them frequently to keep the few little birds healthy.  The ornithologist said that late summer and fall may see a larger population in the area.  Champion!

          The Skyline  R-2 School Foundation Bass Tournament is reported to have been a lot of fun.  Rusty Darnell of Joe Bass Team Trail really pitched in to help and the Foundation is much benefited from his generosity and that of all the sponsors and participants.  Brian Sherrill has pictures to share and is busy planning for next year.  Expect continued excitement from this great new organization dedicated to the education of the great area kids.  So far, the Foundation has signed up twenty-nine children in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.  This is an excellent program where the Foundation is able to provide a new book every month to children from birth all the way until their fifth birthday. The new age-appropriate books arrive in the mail.   It is a way to get them ready to read, ready to enjoy school, ready for a successful life.  Anyone in the Skyline School District is eligible to participate at no cost.  There are applications available at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion and from any Skyline School Board Member. 

          Wayne and Jo Ann Anderson celebrated their 56^th wedding anniversary on Saturday, May 26^th at the Denlow School Reunion.   Helping them enjoy their day was Linda Clark, Robert and Sharon Upshaw, Marilyn Hopper Gerald, Kendall Gerald, Malachi Gerald, Bill and Elgin Upshaw, Bethany Adams, Lavern and Jessie Mae Miller, Kenneth and Barbara Anderson, June Chambers, Walter (Pete) and Bonna Mullins, Lorene Johnston, Ed and Sonja Williams, Sally Prock, Carol E. Coats Barnhart, Ruby Proctor, Peggy Hancock, Vivian Floyd, Russell, Dean and Sue Upshaw, Tom Cooley, Darrell Cooley, Ray Hicks, Kenneth and Beverly  (Miller) Tooley, Robert Dean Brixie, Michael and LaSchell (Upshaw) Bearden with Meryl  and Catherine, Elizabeth Johnston, Kaye and Richard Johnston, Shelby and Madelyn Ward, Esther Wrinkles, Lonnie Mears,  Fred and Jean Follis and Virginia Jacobs.  These are not nearly all the people who were there.  Some neglected to sign the book and some were hoping to remain anonymous.  A number were off on other family business in Tennessee where Dakota Watts (Champion grandson) has graduated from high school.  Bravo!  Meanwhile, back in Denlow, Fred Follis led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and then the fun began.   There was the obligatory recitation of the ‘shoot out’ of March 9, 1879, and a variety of questions designed to educate attendees on the version of history currently being popularized by the self-appointed historian.  By contrast, the food was most enjoyable.   After dinner the pavilion filled with well-fed friends and relatives for the annual auction.  Laverne Miller was the auctioneer and once again he did a splendid job in difficult circumstances.   Time and time again, the General bid against himself.  Being told that he already had the bid only seemed to spur him on to bid on things he did not even want.  It would have been sad, if it were not so funny.   On the serious side of things, the Veterans of the group were recognized.  Lavern, himself, landed on Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day and made his way all the way across France and Germany and was in Switzerland when the War ended.   The occasion of Memorial Day keeps Veterans and those currently serving in mind.  They have the Love and Gratitude of the Nation due them and the Flag flying over Denlow serves its grand purpose. 

          Gardeners have the good news that above the ground crops can be planted all the way from the thirtieth of the month through the third of June.  This is information from Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood.  In this very dry season mulch and irrigation are important.  Some things want continual moisture and some want occasional deep watering.  Haymakers are reporting fewer, lighter bales with less food value.  The price of beef in the grocery store would indicate that the sale barn might still be a good place for relieving the strain on the pasture.  

          “Mother” Mary Harris Jones is believed to be the inspiration behind the song “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.”  In the late 1800’s she was traveling around the Appalachian coal mining camps promoting the formation of labor unions when this version of the song became popular.  Miss Taegan Krider is singing it these days, “She’ll be driving six white horses, when she comes.”  It is a lovely song and at two years of age, this young lady does it justice.  Come on down to the Historic Emporium located over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion to sing your favorite verse.  (The one about chicken and dumplings is a good one.)  If singing is not your strong suit, perhaps you have an ax to grind.  You can do that at Champion Items, Rt. 2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion at getgoin.net.   If you do not want it speckled, grind it in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!