June 29, 2015
CHAMPION—June 29, 2015
A Champion Deer
It is officially Summer in the glorious Ozarks. A few mild days in a row keep natives happy that this is where their lucky stars allowed them to lite. A second cutting of hay already graces some fields and others are lush with new growth. Young deer are getting stronger and bigger on bountiful natural foodstuffs and wild hen turkeys strut across the roads like they own them. They have reasons for crossing the roads which can remain their secret until that ‘season’ rolls around again.
 Champions Harley and Barbara Krider getting ready
for their 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. |
Harley and Barbara Krider will be celebrating their Fiftieth Anniversary on Friday. Their children are hosting a party at the Maple Lane Country Club in Elmwood, Illinois. A large contingent of Champions will be attending and are expected to return with some good stories, and maybe with some of those fancy sliders and some cake. The pictures on the internet are cute. Barbara has a mischievous little smile on her face with her eyebrows up in long suffering resignation while Harley leans over with a big grin and that two fingered peace sign above her head to look like rabbit ears. They are still having fun after all this time. The fun will continue on for them with cook outs and fireworks the next day as the whole Nation observes Independence Day. Those who will not be making the trip will still be wishing the two of them many more years of happiness together while they celebrate in their own back yards and on local creek banks.
Mild weather threatens to interfere with swimming on the 4th. Someone said that it hardly seems fair to have the 4th of July fall on a Saturday, as if America needs a special extra day to express its collective joy. John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, saying that the signing of the Declaration of Independence ought to be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. “It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” Champions will do their best. Old Tree Huggers will have their annual Jubilee down on the creek and marvel at the swift passage of time. It is unclear whether The General will be available to lead the parade. He may be off partying at the Maple Lane Country Club with his Mishbucha (meaning ‘related, but not by blood,’ him being the brother of the wife of the brother of the groom). If he is around to do so, it is fully expected that he will again lead the Sunrise on Freedom parade that heads up in pre-dawn hours at the east end of town. The parade route is as follows: From thence off County Road 234 up on to the pavement of WW then a sharp turn into the west entry of town, in a direct line south hugging the west side of the Square with a sharp left turn just at the old Champion School, then in an easterly direction to the Monolithic Bee Tree which will be circumvented three times in a clockwise direction, then north along the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek with a 90° turn to the west just shy of the garage bringing the procession directly in front of the reviewing stand that is the Veranda on the Recreation of the Historic Emporium, and from there straight up the steep hill of Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive where it will stop at regular intervals to give pageant participants the opportunity to catch their breaths and to look out in appreciation across the broad expanse of Champion—one of the world’s truly beautiful places.
Skyline students will miss Mrs. Judy Sleep who was their librarian for 15 years. She has recently passed away but will be well remembered for her love of books and her love of the children. She requested that people remember her by helping others. Her family has asked that if people would like, they can make a contribution for Scleroderma Research in her memory. Contact Skyline R2 School for additional information.
Foster Wiseman was helping his dad do some hard work on their place last Saturday. They used old fashioned tools to set cedar posts in the ground as part of a cow-shed building project. For their efforts with a post-hole digger and an iron bar for breaking rock, they were able to get three of the six necessary posts set. They will keep after it until the job is done. As they wound up their work for the day on Saturday, Foster said that he was getting in the trailer that his dad was pulling with the riding mower when his dad asked if he was ready. He was almost ready, that is to say, sitting down in the trailer, but not quite, and when his dad asked he said he was ready even though he was not quite and the mower and trailer lurched forward as Foster lurched backwards and landed flat on his back with his heels up. The wind was knocked all of the way out of the boy as his dad looked back only to see his feet up in the air. It did not take him long to recover and it is a good natured young man who will tell a funny story on himself.
Ms. Ayn Thrope writes in with her opinions. “It has been a newsworthy week across the Nation with the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Charleston, with a boost for health care in some places, while the stars and bars float down and the rainbow rises. The dangerous murderers have been killed and caught up in upstate New York. Terrible and wonderful things happen everywhere and our attention is pulled from one to the next endlessly. Hardly any mention is being made about this terrible Pacific Trade Agreement. It will effectively protect corporations, foreign and domestic, from the people, meaning companies will be free from the constraint of National Law if it interferes with trade. The implications are far reaching.” Most information that comes over the internet should be prefaced, according to some, by a shirtless hillbilly in overalls and a ragged straw hat, chewing on a piece of grass leaning over your computer saying, “I heard tell of thus ‘n such..” “Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with” according to Robert Staughton Lynd who was an American sociologist born in 1892. He also said “Friendship will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long.” Gardeners will look for advice from Linda’s Almanac that says the 6th and 7th will be good days for planting beets, carrots, radishes, turnips and other root crops. Also those will be good days for transplanting. Look for Linda’s Almanac for July up at The Plant Place in Norwood, on the bulletin board in Henson’s Downtown G&G and on-line at www.championnews.us.
“Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody’s mother. Be kind to your friends in the swamp, where the weather is very warm and damp.” The parody lyrics to John Phillip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” help some old timers to remember the melody of the song. Sousa wrote it in 1897 with much more serious words which include the phrases: “Hurrah for the flag of the free. May it wave as our standard forever.” “Let eagle shriek from lofty peak The never-ending watchword of our land; Let summer breeze waft through the trees The echo of the chorus grand. Sing out for liberty and light, Sing out for freedom and the right. Sing out for Union and its might.” Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
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