The remarkable beauty of the Champion countryside this time of year fairly takes the breath away.  Turn suddenly around any corner to be dazzled by a scene that could well be painted in oil and mounted in a gilded frame on an expansive wall in a great hall to be admired by the unfortunate throngs shambling drearily past in the great elsewhere.  Champion!  Picturesque.

          Many pictures were taken at the family celebration of the second birthday of Miss Taegan Krider.  Cousins, aunts and uncles, grandmothers, and distant kinfolks and relations of all kinds did some big time ‘birthday song’ singing together with the young lady’s parents who both happen to be very fine singers.  Taegan, a.k.a. Peanut, has lots of good reasons to celebrate and Champions are pleased to have such a charming resident.   http://the-dairy-maid.com/ is an excellent place to look for Peanut pictures and progress on her new home as well as all the pretty cows.  It is a happy life.

          Happy birthday to Megan Whitacre, Skyline eighth grader.   She will be 14 on the fifth of May.  Most likely she and her friends are getting pretty excited about the end of school.  Since it has been her birthday every year since she was born, Megan probably knows all about the special significance of the Fifth of May–El Cinco de Mayo.  It is the day in 1862, when the Mexican Army was able to defeat a large French invasion near the city of Puebla.  It was a significant victory for the Mexican forces.   They were ultimately defeated, however, and the French set up Maximilian as emperor.   His reign only lasted three years, because the United States was by that time through the Civil War and able to be of financial assistance to their neighbors.  They were pleased to do so in light of the fact that the victory at Puebla had caused Napoleon such trouble that he had been unable to resupply the Confederate Army thus hastening the end of the Civil War.  Champions can see that a good neighbor policy can pay off in the long run.  Be one to have one—a good neighbor that is.  Good news is that the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is getting some good use through the Skyline School Foundation.   The last applications were given out at Henson’s Store the other day, but they will soon be restocked.  Reading is Champion cool. 

          Champion Pete Proctor writes that Bryan’s family has been with him since February.  His good news is that his son has just a few days left in Qatar, and then he will be home.  Bryan and Jamie are planning to take Pete on a trip to Virginia and Washington DC to see the Viet Nam Wall.  Pete is pretty excited and his Champion friends are glad for him to get to go.  They will be looking forward to the pictures and stories.  Veterans are some of the best story tellers.  They have the Love and Gratitude of the Nation due them and an appreciative audience, as well.  Another stellar local, a real live Veteran and jokester, El Generalissimo P’Shaw, has been ramrodding the Vanzant Community Musical.  David Richardson posted one of his wonderful movies on line and it can be seen by going to www.youtube.com and typing Vanzant Community Center Vanzant Mo(.)   It is 38 minutes long and well worth the time to watch.  It is like being there yourself, and you will recognize everyone.  Very cool.   One would be thanking the General for having such thoughtful and clever friends but he is off playing cowboy.  His pseudonym is “Liberty Valence” and he claims to be so tough that when he steps out in the street the sewers back up.

          Cowhand Jack would have landed flat of his back if the horse had thrown him off on the ground.  Instead of ‘thud’ and ‘grunt,’ it was ‘slosh’ and ‘snort’ and a true wonder the Cowboy didn’t drowned.  They had a nice plunge but forgot the sponge and left the barber astounded. There will be stories to tell of how he rose and fell, but this one in truth is well-grounded.

          A cult is growing up concerning the Near Drowning of Cowboy Jack.   Dramatic readings are being presented on the subject in the Conservatory on a regular basis by the elegant and well-spoken wife of the across the road neighbor of Zip Line Steve and Daring Darleen.  Among the four of them they comprise the stylish set of local Café Society, Café notwithstanding, but rather the Banquet Room at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Historic Downtown Champion.  They and the Emporium’s proprietor, the Barber, the Cowboy, the Farmer and casual stoppers-in can be found in any number enjoying the impassioned reading of the Champion News and recounting of the events of that fateful, near fatal, day. 

          The third and fourth of May will be an excellent time for planting corn, beans, peppers, and other above the ground crops, according to Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood.  The fifth through the seventh will be good days for, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, peanuts and other root crops.  It says that this will also be a good time for planting cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, celery and other leafy vegetables.  Start seedbeds, it says.  Good days for transplanting.  Just reading the almanac makes some folks tired.  Others find that they cannot do as much physically as they used to do or as they still want to do.  They make sure that they enjoy what they do get done and do not fret overly.  Find the Almanac up at the Plant Place and for inspection down at Henson’s Grocery and Gas or at www.championnews.us. 

          When a stranger becomes a friend, there is that exciting period of time when the two are learning about each other.  While that is going on, sometimes a person gets a view of himself through the eyes of the other and that can be an enlightening experience.  It is a gift when friends share friends with each other.  The mutual friend now has a new facet according to the relationship with each of the previous strangers and each has the pleasure of growing a bond.  It is a Champion thing to acknowledge that friendship is a true blessing.  Making new friends is a good excuse to look at old friends with new appreciation.  What a gift!

          Count your many blessings out on the porch at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium in Downtown Champion.  Admire the flowers and sit a spell.  Send your versions of the Near Drowning or such as that to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion at getgoin.net.  Sing, “He’s an old cowhand, from the Rio Grande.  And he learned to ride, before he learned to stand.  He knows all the songs that the cowboys know, cause he heard ‘em singing on the radio, Woopie Ki Yo Ki Yea!”  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Facebook