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CHAMPION—July 28, 2008

        Over in Champion people are just perpetually grateful.  Champions don’t have to cast their vision very far to find people in much less comfortable circumstances.  A frequent Champion visitor and Champion Double Cousin weathered Hurricane Dolly with sustained winds over 70 mph for hour upon hour.  There were gusts between 90 mph and 120 mph!  Fifteen inches of rain later she is fine and busy helping out in her neighborhood those who did not fare so well.  Louise’s brothers, Larry and Gary Sexton and sister Gail Carson up in Iowa had some big winds come through last Monday morning that sent a limb down through one of their roofs and wiped out hundreds and hundreds of big old trees all over their area.  They say nobody in Buffalo or Des Moines will be hurting for fire-wood this winter.  They were not hurt, however, and they too are grateful.  More good news comes in the form of health reports on Foster, Kalyssa, Madelyn and Sharon Upshaw and Kaye Johnston.  Everybody’s doing well…improving and on the mend.  So Champion is a windy place from the sighs of relief going around!

        Gardening and Haymaking are going full tilt.  Some Champions reminded one Old Girl that the ‘fruit of the vine’ does not mean the cucumber vine.  Rumors that she’s spreading cucumber wine around the neighborhood are unfounded.  She does say that the juice is best cold after it’s had a chance to settle out a bit.  She seems to be its only fan.  As to the Haymakers, the tetter grabbed Harley’s hat and sent it for a sail.  He retrieved it and while it is on the fluffy side now, it is still quite serviceable.  Lonnie lost a hat altogether in a big round baler a while back.  Leslie was out mowing without a hat and got sunburned the other day.  Once Ed Henson baled his glasses up in a small square bale.  Later that winter he was feeding the hay and found them.  The lenses were fine and with a little bending he was able to wear them!  There are all kinds of stories about bailing up snakes and armadillos.  It is an exciting enterprise:  making hay.  Wilburn said that when the equipment breaks down and nobody keeps parts in stock, sometimes the hay is about ‘gold plated.’  He also said that his little hound dog will get tears in her eyes when he talks to her. “She’s the only one who listens to me.”

        Most welcome Tennessee Family and Friends came drifting through Champion early in the week.  Everybody’s spirits get a boost in the presence of grandsons!  Even old Grandfather Weltanschauung over on 14 Highway takes a trip to goofy land in the presence of Semus, Zack and Elizabeth!  Individually, collectively or in any combination they just send the Old Fellow into sublime grins.  He can’t help it.  Grandparents are Cool!  The Tennessee Grandsons are excellent singers and most likely endorphins were let loose all over Champion.  Endorphins are small, protein molecules that are produced by the cells of the nervous system and other parts of the body.  An important role of endorphins is to work with sedative receptors that are known to relieve common pain.  They are not a single molecule, but actually come in several forms anywhere from eighteen to five hundred times as powerful as any man-made analgesic.  And, they are non-addictive.  Singing releases endorphins that fight disease and depression.  Even sad songs like “Old Shep,” or bloody ballads like “The Knoxville Girl” do the good work.  Tra La!

        There was sure some good music “UP’N AT’T” 4 H Picnic over on EE over the week end. This was the 58^th year for the Holt Picnic.  A junior in Mountain Grove High School, Logan Driskoll, was working the snow cone stand.  She’s been in the 4 H since she was six years old.  She says that the proceeds from the picnic go to help the Club fund their projects for the Fair and various trips.  The group host a dinner for the Fire Fighters every year as well as other community service projects.  Logan’s cousin, Abby Peterson, was up visiting from Lampasas, TX and helped out in the booth.  Friends and Family can’t be beat!  The Champion and Skyline communities were well represented at the Holt Picnic and those folks are always present in good numbers for the Skyline Picnic that is coming up on the 8^th and 9^th of August.  It seems that every week-end this time of the year there is a picnic, festival or reunion.  When the ice and snow is on the ground it’s harder to get out and about.  Of course, gas prices are no small thing to country livers at this time, but still folks love to get together to help each other’s various causes.  The Skyline Picnic has been going on for close to thirty years now and the proceeds from this fund-raiser go to buy equipment and to fund training for the fire fighters.  The community wins with the fun and excitement of the get-together and then with the great community service provided by the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department.  The Membership really pulls together for this event with donations of homemade pies and cakes and interesting things for the Silent Auction.  Last year Mike Sims made an incredible rocking chair that he donated to the Fire Department and a nice guy from over in Cabool won it in the auction at a good price.  People are generous in these parts.

        Also in these parts are some seriously irresponsible individuals.  Before eight o’clock last Saturday morning an old 1980’s model Buick Skylark stopped at the foot of Mary Graham’s drive way and dumped two puppies.  They are pretty little things with some black and white hound in them but they are certainly not what Mary needs to have to take care of!  It is criminal to slough this responsibility off on someone else. If this were not bad enough, the exact same thing happened the previous Sunday morning at about the same time.  Mary doesn’t know if it was the same individual, but she is hoping that the description of the car together with other information will be enough for the Sheriff to take some action.

        A note in the www.vanzantmo.com website informs that the General has been barred from the Waldorf Astoria on account of some sort of shenanigan about a possum stew.  His computer is on the fritz currently so the world wide web is safe for the nonce.  www.skylinevfd.com is a good place to find out more about the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department.  The www.championnews.us has received some good reviews which are on account of the excellent efforts of the Huckleberry Geekeette, Carol Cleveland.  The mix of technology and nostalgia is an interesting mix and the world is getting smaller in some ways.

        It is also getting more dangerous.  Private First Class LaVena Johnson from Florissant, Missouri was the first woman from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.  She was 19 years old.  She died July 19, 2005.  Her folks still don’t know exactly how she died.  They deserve some answers and the Love and Gratitude of their Nation.

        Hapless George, a new Champion Aficionado, reports that the “Historical Dictionary of American Slang” documents the use of the phrase “I’m your huckleberry” all through the latter 19^th century as meaning “I’m just the man you’re looking for!”  Champions are glad to welcome an erudite new neighbor!  Sometimes erudition is in short supply in these parts so for his good research abilities and his generous nature, H.G. will be designated as an official Champion Huckleberry! 

        Harley’s headed home to take Barbara, Elizabeth and Alexandra on a cruise!  Meanwhile, Champions are busy trading squash, peaches and green beans with each other.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that August 1^st will be an excellent day for planting any crop that bears its yield above ground.  Send fantastic garden reports to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Snitch on that puppy dumper to Champion News.  Do some summertime lollygagging on the porch at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square.  Sing right out loud just for the good health benefits and Look on the Bright Side!