Champion News

CHAMPION—June 30, 2008

        In Champion Independence Day is a serious matter.  The federal holiday commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.  Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the tyranny of King George is highly prized.  The patriotic fervor of Champion balances nicely with temperate reticence of the community.  On every day of the year Champions celebrate Independence with orderly lives and indifference to the whims of the rest of the Nation and World.  Behind the pervasive laughter and good humor of the place is the deep thoughtfulness of a Grateful citizenry.  It can be said of Champions that they ”throw a tidy parade and participate consistently in their government at the ballot box.”  Huzza!  America!

        Good news comes from Champion’s Tennessee friend Darrell Haden, who says that “Old Man River” is twenty miles distant from him at Hickman, Kentucky.  He says he won’t be able to take the ferry to Missouri, but it sounds like he is high and dry.  Faye Twitty’s news from the Quad Cities Area in Iowa is much more grim.  Her poignant descriptions of families loosing homes and livelihoods is heart wrenching.  Champions have close ties with that area and wish them a speedy recovery.

        A number of current and former Champion residents attended the Thursday night music at Plumber’s Junction on the 26^th.  The musicians were:  Sue Murphy–vocals and mandolin, Norris Woods–vocals and banjo, Jerry Wagner—vocals, yodels and fiddle, Frank Mings—mandolin, and guitar players—Buzz Woods, Robert Upshaw, and Jeff Barch, who also played the French harp.  On any given Thursday evening around six these folks can be found there playing a lot of standard country and old time music.  Other musicians frequently sit in and the onlookers always have a good time.  Onlookers this week included Phil and Jan Blazius.  Jan is a good-looking Texas woman married to this guy from Connecticut and they have settled up on V Highway.  It seems like they like these parts.  They are neighbors with Elmer and Frances Banks and shared a table with them for the evening.  Elmer was talking about when he first met Frances.  He was working on rebuilding an old historic rock wall somewhere back east and she was a hod carrier.  He encouraged her in the use of a stone ax and she straightway broke off a piece of granite that smashed her big toe absolutely flat.  He must have been very consoling, because they are still together and it has been some little while now.  During the evening several stopped by to visit with Esther Wrinkles who was celebrating her birthday early.  She received gifts of music CDs and pickled beets as well as a lot of good wishes.  River Stillwood shared some of her tasty homemade ice cream.  The General says it is the ‘best I ever tasted.’  That is saying something, since he is reported to be a Champion Ice Cream Master himself!

        Sunday was a happy birthday for long time Champion, Mrs. Eva Powell.  Visits, cards and phone calls from children and grand children marked the day.  Dinner out and plans for more fun were in the offing as those Nettleton sisters go on a tare.  Champions wish her many happy returns!  More of those kinds of returns are wished for the Old Guy who says,  “Don’t pick it up until you know where you’re going to put it down.”  He’ll be sixty nine on the first!

        Donald & Rita Krider really were surprised at their 50^th wedding anniversary celebration on the weekend of the 21^st of June.  Somehow no cats were let out of any bags and the surprise was complete!  The party was held a week after their anniversary which they now share with Staci and Dustin Cline.  The heavy rains did not have any damaging effects on party-goer Vivian Floyd from Rogersville.  She did come home to a surprise, however, and said, “It’s for the birds!”  As for the Clines, Dustin said he’d just as soon watch cars go by in Champion as in Durango, Colorado.  The railroad there seems to be about the only advantage it has over Champion.  How lovely it would be to go up to Norwood and get on the train and head out for distant places to see family and friends or just to have wonderful adventures.  Poplar Bluff is the nearest port of train call and The Black River by the train station may well be out of banks!

        Little Wild Flowers, common and rare, are benefiting from the climate.  Just a stroll down a country lane or a familiar wooded path brings delight to the flower lover and berry picker.  The dozens of varieties of flowering plants that can be seen in Champion just add to the long list of positive attributes of the place.  It is a real garden spot.  Linda’s almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 3^rd through the 5^th will be most favorable for corn, okra, beans, peppers, eggplant and other above-ground crops.  The 6^th through the 10^th will be a barren period—good for destroying weeds.  Robin Chotzinoff’s book, “People With Dirty Hands,” came as a gift from a Texas Champion and has proven to be a great read.  Interesting gardeners of all descriptions from all over the country share their methods and observations.  Any of them would fit right in Champion.

        A US Service Person died in Iraq for every day of the month in June this year.  Champions join the rest of the Nation in extending Love and Gratitude to them and to their survivors.  Supporting the troops who come home is as important as supporting those who are still over there.

        The Skyline Auxiliary’s meeting on July 1^st is slated to be a productive gathering.  Members will have the chance to view the Rose Star Quilt and to report on their ticket sales.  Details of Picnic preparations will be hashed out fully.  “It is auspicious” say some that the Skyline Annual Picnic will start on 08-08-08 this year!  August 8^th and 9^th will be some entertaining and busy days around Skyline.  Excitement is building and The Annual Picnic will doubtlessly prove to be another smashing success!

        “When we sing instead of speak, we have intonation, melody line, and crescendo, which gives us a broader vocabulary to express ourselves,” says Suzanne Hanser, chair of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music.  “Because singing is visceral (relating to, or affecting, our bodies), it can’t help but effect change.”  It is proven that singing reduces stress and pain.  Studies have linked singing with a lower heart rate, decreased blood pressure, and reduced stress, according to Patricia Preston-Roberts, a board–certified music therapist in New York City.  Some Champions report that the song, “Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody’s mother!” is sung to the tune of “Stars and Stripes Forever!”  Cool!

        Harley’s haying is done for the time being.  His wonderful singing voice will be missed, but it is time for him to go home for a while.  Barbara can hear him sing, “The barefoot boy with his shoes on came running down the street, with his pants all full of pockets and his shoes all full of feet.  He was born when he was a baby and he died when he got old and that’s how in the world the Old Folks tell that it ain’t gonna rain no more!”

Reports of fervor, fun, family and friends are all welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  E-mail words to that song to Champion News.  Sing that song or any other on the porch at Henson’s Store.  This charming mercantile is on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion where Champions are ever singing, “Look on the Bright Side!”

CHAMPION—June 23, 2008

        The Longest Day of the Year was celebrated in style in Champion this year.  Raymond and Esther Howard have become great grandparents again!  Vanessa and Danny Howard are the parents of Noah Sebastian Howard who arrived on June 21^st weighing in at well over eight pounds.  They live over in Strafford but have Champion great-grandparents.  Champions are hoping that Raymond and Esther can come home again one of these days for a visit.  They always liven the place up so.  Linda Watts, who lives over in Tennessee, was home visiting family in Champion on the First Day of Summer and celebrated her presidential birthday.  She is officially old enough to run the country now and people who are acquainted with her figure she could do a good job of it.  While her background could certainly stand the scrutiny, she is not inclined to enter the race.  She has other fish to fry, or bake or broil.  She really enjoys being back on the farm and her folks are always glad to see her.  Dakota has been a big help during his stay but will soon go back across the big river to Tennessee with his Mom.

        In Champion Father’s Day sort of slipped by this year without much fan-fair.  There were phone calls, cards and general expressions of Love and Gratitude to the Old Boy for all his selfless service as the backbone of the family and the community and the Nation.  Perhaps an entry in the upcoming 4^th of July parade will feature The Founding Fathers.  They could give free advice and wisdom to onlookers:  “Always whittle away from you.”  “Don’t spit into the wind.”  “Be sure the switch is in the ‘off’ position before you plug in your power tools.”  “If you trade your liberty for security, you will have neither.”  “If truth is once deserted, unity and peace will not last long.”  “That metal button on top of your hat will conduct electricity.”  “Know where you are going to put it down before you pick it up.”  Sound advice and wisdom are always available in Champion.

        It may be that Father’s Day got lost in the hoopla around the first wedding in Champion in more than twenty years!  The Fiftieth Wedding anniversary of Donald and Rita Krider, got lost in that same hoopla.  They were honored in a surprise celebration over this last weekend.  Their anniversary was on the 14^th of June, a date that they now share with Staci and Dustin Cline.  Harley, who has been down on the farm for a while now, went with sister Vivian Floyd and niece Diane Strickland back to Illinois for the party.  They had a good time and made it back home safely.  Vivian lives in Rogersville and it is hoped that the wet weather is sparing her any damage.  Diane lives over in West Plains.  She has just completed her RN degree!  Congratulations to all the above including great grand parents, birthday celebrators, Fathers, anniversary markers, newlyweds, and Nurses–Champions all!

        The Tyranny of Green is what some call the fast growing lawn that requires such frequent mowing.  Haymakers have different ideas about it and so as usual, some are happy and some are not.  It’s like that pretty much everywhere.  Tomatoes are growing and will ripen someday!  It was the 27^th of June, a Wednesday afternoon, when Donna Moskaly came sashaying down to Henson’s Store last year with Joe at her side and her luscious prize winning tomato in her hand.  Excitement is rising!  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 26^th, 27^th, and 28^th will be poor planting days…Good for general farm work.  The 28^th will be a perfect day for wishing Champion Esther Wrinkles Happy Birthday.  The 29^th and 30^th will be good for planting root crops.  Some folks are still just now getting things in the ground.  Says one, “The frost is going to get that stuff!”  But the optimistic old gardener thinks, “Maybe not.”  Rather than rule out the possibility of something good happening, the Old Dear is willing to put a little effort into something that might just as easily be a fool’s errand or a bountiful harvest.  “Well, if you don’t plant it, for sure it won’t grow!”  Another old girl with dirty hands figured that she would just enjoy working at it whenever she can get to it and just never mind what all is not getting done.  It is amazing what can be accomplished with a happy heart.  There is also a little comfort in knowing it can’t all be done.  It is a matter of perspective.  “Well, I look at it like this!” croaks the old Champion who then squints one of his rhumey old eyes shut and cocks his head to one side, grinning like he has a gold tooth, which he does not.  Very funny.

        On July 30, 2006 a young man wrote from Iraq, “I am 19 years old now. In the last three years, four months, and eleven days, 149 19 year olds have been killed in Iraq.  I turned nineteen on May 8th, 2006.  Two days before that, on May 6th, Lance Corporal Leon Deraps, U.S. Marine Corps, 1st Marine Logistics Group, died in an Improvised Explosive Device attack in Fallujah.  He was from St. Louis, MO.  He was 19 years old.  He was a Boy Scout who won 35 Merit Badges and was his Senior Prom King in High School.  Remember, he was 19 years old.”

        The Skyline Area VFD Ladies’ Auxiliary will have a meeting on July 1^st.  Louise Hutchison has asked that Esther Wrinkles bring the Rose Star Quilt to the meeting to be sure that all the members get a chance to see it.  Bonnie and Pete Mullins from over in Wichita, Kansas have bought a lot of tickets for the quilt.  Hopefully they will be able to get over for the picnic in August.  What would it be like without some of Bonnie’s wonderful pies?  Pete and Bonnie have for years been most supportive of the Skyline Fire Department.  They are the kind of folks that keep things fun and keep the important things going.

        Report important accomplishments to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Report Champion birthdays or share some good advice or wisdom at Champion News.  Sit out on the porch at Henson’s Store on the North side of the square and release some of those healthy, disease fighting endorphins singing:  “The night was dark and stormy, the old cow she was blind.  She backed right up to the barbed wire fence and scratched her never-you-mind!  Oh! It ain’t gonna rain no more no more.  It ain’t gonna rain no more!  How in the world can the Old Folks tell that it ain’t a gonna rain no more?”  They can tell because they are Champions and they are a looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 16, 2008

        Champion is still all smiles over the beautiful wedding that took place on Saturday in the little church just South of the Square.  Lonnie Krider and Karen Faye Upshaw married there almost forty years ago.  A little later Richard Johnston and Linda Kaye Upshaw married there.  Next came Larry Wrinkles and Theresa (Sartor) Reese in 1987, and now Dustin Cline has married Staci Krider in the same place.  All these previous marriages have ‘stuck’ and there is every reason to believe that this young couple will have a long and happy life together.  All of Champion wishes them every success.

        Family and friends kept a tight rein on the General for the wedding.  At the last minute it was happily discovered that someone had hid both his kilt and his accordion and so the parade that left Champion and wound its way all the way to Skyline for the wedding reception turned out to be both dignified and pleasant.  The couple arrived at the reception in style driving a beautiful 1940 model Ford convertible—very elegant.  The bride’s cousins had prepared a lovely table for the cake and punch.  The General was at all times monitored when he approached the punch bowl, as his family is keenly aware of his nature.

        Foster Wiseman made quite an excellent ring bearer.  He and his distant but close cousin Madelyn Ward were key players in the ceremony and performed their duties with precision and humor.  Foster celebrates his third birthday on the 17^th of June and his dad is reminded that he will be ready to drive in twelve or thirteen short years!  Rodger quails at the thought!

        Tennessee boys and Illinois girls who are regular visitors to Champion will catalogue this event as one of their special childhood memories for future reflection.  Dakota was aiming to stay on the farm for a few days to help out with the hard work that goes on this time of the year.  He is taller than his parents now!

        The Skyline Ladies’ Auxiliary had its meeting on Tuesday evening the 10^th of June.  They are getting ready for the August Picnic already.  The meeting was held in the home of the recently elected president, Betty Dye, and was well attended.  It was agreed that the next meeting will be held Tuesday evening, July 1^st, to seriously get the ball rolling.  It was revealed that tickets for the Rose Star Quilt are being sold in California, Kansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Texas.  No doubt some are going to Iowa too.  It seems that a quilt has been won by a ticket holder from that state!  Louise Hutchison sold that winning ticket.  She was having a bout of bronchitis which kept her from the meeting.  The Auxiliary all joined in extending hopes that she makes a speedy recovery.

        Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that 20^th -21^st will be good days to plant late beets, potatoes, onions, carrots and other root crops.  The 22^nd –23^rd will be poor days for planting.  Kill plant pests, spray, fertilize, do general farm work then. The 24^th-25^th will be a favorable time for planting late root crops, also good for vine crops and to set strawberry plants.  The heavy rains in June have made hay-making awkward but gardens are generally flourishing.  Esther Wrinkles reports having some trouble with aphids on some of her tomato plants.  Several are having the same difficulty with the pesky little bugs.  People spray them with a variety of things that range from Malethion to Ivory Liquid.  Tomato plants are being carefully watched in Champion.  Betty Thomas from over in Yates wants to enter the First Ripe Tomato In Champion Contest.  No ruling has been made as to her eligibility, but she hasn’t turned up with a ripe tomato to share either!  She and Dale are getting geared up for the Pioneer Days already.  That doesn’t occur until October so between now and then they will be seen out supporting all the local communities with their summer picnics and festivals.  They are good neighbors.  (Mrs. Wrinkles has a good neighbor who slips around behind her back to mow her yard when she’s not home.  Imagine!)

        Forty-four American servicemen have died there so far this year.  4101 have died in Iraq since the war was declared there.  Americans find ways to express their Love and Gratitude to those serving and to the survivors of those who perish in the dangerous places of the world.

        A few dry days have been a real gift to Champion.  Haymakers are busy.  Many have friends and family who live in parts of the country that are flooding or are recovering from floods.  When the ground is saturated it doesn’t take much rain to make for a dangerous situation.  Champions are grateful for the rising water table, but they keep a weather eye out as well.  Champion’s Tennessee friend, Darrell Haden, lives just a little way from the Mississippi River and as the run-off from the big rains moves down the river it is hoped that he and his family stay safe and dry.  “Oh! 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!”

        Any cures or treatments for aphids on tomatoes will be welcomed at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  E-mail verses to “It a’int a gonna rain no more, no more” to Champion News.  Sing it right out loud on the porch at Henson’s Store in glorious downtown Champion where it is understood that singing has a positive effect on health but not much effect on the weather.  Still, in Champion, rain or shine, they are always looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION—June 9, 2008

        When the excitement reaches a fevered pitch in Champion, Champions just let out a little sigh and think about those blissful quiet days when nothing much happens at all.  Those kinds of days will be rolling around again soon enough and in the meantime enjoying the here and now is one of the very definitions of a Champion.  It is the mark of an exceptional person who knows when things are good and acknowledges it at the very moment.  It is kind of sad to think, “we were so happy back then and didn’t know it.”  Sometimes people can even get so caught up in taking pictures that they let the real beauty of the moment slide by.  If a person forgets to take his camera to the creek, then he doesn’t have to worry about dropping it in the water, or losing it, and he just has to rely on his memory to replay the joys of the day the way people always have.

        Imagine the General wearing a kilt and leading a bridal procession through Champion while playing an accordion.  That is reported to be his current plan!  He is so excited about the upcoming wedding of his niece that he is about to drive family and friends to distraction!  The hope is that his antics will not prove so extreme that the attention is taken from the lovely bride.  She is the very portrait of calm repose.  No roguery however avuncular will rumple her placid poise.  The bridegroom, however, is apt to be adversely influenced by her Illinois uncle who attributes his own long-term marital successes to having worn white sox to his wedding.  He indicates that just wearing them is not enough.  They must figure significantly in the wedding pictures.  Some of the groom’s kin may show up armed for a little pre-nuptial coyote hunting and, as is the case with any large gathering, the unknowns are rife with possibility.  It will be a day to remember, one full of promise and optimism colored overall with the love and good wishes of family and friends.

        Linda’s granddaughter, Danielle, from Kansas City has been over in Norwood tending the store for her Grandmother.  While Linda has been busy working with the plants and helping people find things, Danielle and her distant cousin have been minding the shop, waiting on customers and keeping things orderly.  It is a rare situation that is not improved significantly by the presence of a granddaughter or great niece.  This week Linda’s almanac says that the 13^th to the 15^th will be favorable for planting peas, beans, tomatoes and other fall crops bearing aboveground.  Sow grains and forage crops.  Plant flowers.  The 16^th and 17^th will be extra good for planting fall lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, collards and other leafy vegetables.  All above ground crops planted now will do well.  Plant seedbeds also.  It is nice to have such a long period of time when conditions are just right for a favorite activity.  If the weather will cooperate, Champions will have to tell everybody how good the gardening has been.  It is a luxury to be able to wait for the weather to be good to do what one wants to do.  Farmers have things that have to be done no matter what the weather.  Then there are so many things in agriculture that are weather dependent like cutting hay.  There are so many berries on the black berry bushes that people are holding their breath in hopes of getting just the right rain.  This may be the blackberry crop of the century in Champion.  Young visitors were too early for a lot of the berries that will be ripening in these parts, but they harvested a variety of other things including some yearling ticks.  Sophia and Penelope are back in Texas now with just a little itching to remind them of the good times on the farm.

        Some have only blooms, while some have real tomatoes.  The rules for the First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest are simple:  The tomato must have been grown in Champion; must be shared with judges (anyone present at Henson’s Store) and ideally will have its picture taken with the winning gardener for publication.  There is no second place prize.  The winner will receive acclaim, admiration, a blue antique fruit jar, $5.00 worth of tickets to win the coveted Rose Star Quilt hand pieced by Esther Wrinkles which will be given away at the Skyline Picnic on the 9^th of August, and two dozen canning jar flats—a dozen each regular and wide mouth.  The decision of the judges will be final and the tomato will be eaten on the spot.  Any contestant unwilling to share his tomato will be disqualified.

        After five years in Iraq, the U.S. military has suffered over 33,000 casualties, more that 29,000 wounded and 4,000 dead, and it remains engulfed by three converging currents that constitute the Iraq War—the underlying military conflict, the battle for political control, and grinding civil strife.  The Pentagon has diagnosed roughly 40,000 troops with post traumatic stress disorder since 2003.  Love and Gratitude for their service is the requisite start for healing.

        One time a Champion was standing beside a famous person who said something that some found quite objectionable.  It turned out that the Champion then had to convince people that knowing the famous person who said the objectionable thing did not mean that he also subscribed to the thought.  Then people said that the Champion was distancing himself from his associate and indicated that there was something wrong with that.  It is a good thing that Champions know how to think for themselves.  A pleasant letter came from Tennessee Champion friend, Darrell Haden, who was talking about Vernon Dalhart.  He was very influential in getting country music up and going in the mid-1920’s.  Prof. Haden said, “Probably one of the chief reasons Dalhart is not so well known as (Jimmy) Rodgers and the Carters is the fact that Texan Dalhart trained first to sing grand opera, which he did from 1910 until about 1916.”  This is the guy who made the “Wreck of the Old ‘97” popular.  It is a great thing that as people progress through life, they grow and change and learn to appreciate new things.  How dreary it would be to be stuck with only the thoughts and attitudes one held in the bloom of his formative youth!

        It is unknown if there are more endorphins released in a person who sings grand opera than a person who sings “Sadie’s Got Her New Dress On,” which is one of Young Foster’s favorite songs.  It is known that those endorphins help the immune system fight off disease and depression.  Champions are encouraged to sing at every opportunity (where song is appropriate, General Upshaw!)

        Acknowledge good things at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  E-mail secrets for marital success to Champion News.  Release some endorphins on the porch at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion where the beautiful brides are always looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION—June 1, 2008

        Good neighbors are to Champion what strawberries are to shortcake—just some of the very best part!  Wes and Pat Smith came over and plowed Louise and Wilburn Hutchison’s garden for them and a few days later Sharon and Farel Sikes came over and plowed it again.  Meanwhile Joe Moskaly came and cut the weeds out of the fencerow and people are calling and stopping by just to see what they can do.  What a pleasure to live in such a berg!  Wilburn is feeling better and Louise is perking along with her regular pleasant and graceful proficiency.

        Champions are sprucing up, fluffing up, shinning up and generally spiffing up for company.  With the price of scrap metal going through the ceiling these days one noticed that a lot of old horse drawn history is being hauled off, but also that it is still nice to see things getting kind of cleaned up a little bit.  Some people don’t ever have to clean up for company because they live clean and orderly lives.  Young Dusty Mike’s Mom wouldn’t leave a dirty dish in the sink over night for anything!  Other Champions are not so fastidious.  They say that it is not hypocritical or putting on of airs to present guest with a cleaner circumstance than they would regularly enjoy themselves, but that it is a polite gesture that reflects respect for honored guests.  In any event, there are big and fancy doings afoot and Champion will delight in a hosting people from near and far who will come for joyful, sweet and romantic nuptial reasons.  Other people like Sophia and Penelope will come all the way from Texas just to play in the dirt and have fun with the Old Folks–also sweet.

        A bad tooth can have a profound effect on a person’s overall health.  The BBC says that five billion people worldwide suffer from tooth decay.  Sometimes a person will endure a toothache as a way to acquire understanding of another’s pain or as a way to keep perspective in the presence of a difficult houseguest.  When at last the persistent discomfort is gone, the relief can be glorious.  Medicines can be pretty tricky though, as an old Champion woman discovered recently.  A person needs to read all that paperwork that comes with those prescriptions and pay heed.  Those pharmaceutical companies aren’t just writing that stuff to use ink.  A swig of the over-the-counter cough medicine on top of a painkiller can put a person to sleep for a couple of days.  In the big world outside they call that “overdose,” or “OD.”  It may be that the old girl was just looking for a little rest.  It was a perilous enough situation to give her serious pause.  Old friend Foxfire Jack Ryan recommended the book, Worst Pills Best Pills, The Older Adults Guide to Avoiding Drug Induced Death or Illness.  Public Citizen Health Research Group published it in1988.  Uncle Al, The Lonesome Plowboy, liked to tell the story about how Eleanor Roosevelt was accosted by a rude drunk who told her that she was ugly.  “Sir, you are drunk!” said Ms. R., to which the fellow replied, “Yes Mam, but I’ll be over it in the morning!”  This anecdote has also been attributed to Winston Churchill (not concerning Mrs. Roosevelt, however) and is only used here as an example of being able to get over things or not.  Getting over a toothache often requires a dentist and all are grateful that they are no longer in the barbering trade and ‘bouncing’ teeth as a sideline.

        Another posthumous Medal of Honor has been awarded.  This time to a 19-year-old young man who threw himself on a grenade to save his four fellow soldiers.  He was doing what his Nation has asked of him and he did it willingly with pride.  He has Love and Gratitude coming to him and all his bereft survivors.  The death toll in Iraq now of just U.S. Service Personnel is 4086.

        Esther Wrinkles has already put up enough gooseberries from her last year’s birthday gooseberry bushes to make a pie!  Lucky with be the guest who gets to share that treat!  Louise says that the wild gooseberries on her place are really going to bear well.  Faye hasn’t found too many yet.  Maybe they will get together.  Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that transplanting will be very good from the 3^rd through the 9^th and that the 6^th and 7^th will be excellent days to plant crops that bear their yield above the ground.  Gardens are really looking good around Champion, though it has been too wet to work the ground much in some spots.  The First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest may have some hot contention this year.

        “That’s alright, Dad.  Everybody makes a mistake sometimes.”  So said Foster to his Dad when he apologized for having used a harsh word in a tense traffic situation the other day.  The sentiment has broad application when it comes to getting a tractor stuck in a mud hole or not having a jack in a truck with a flat tire.  Champions are generally a forgiving lot, but they have very good memories.  “All water under the bridge,” one Champion descendant calls the old days.  She sent pictures of long time residents of the area known as “Riley Holler.”  As new people move into the community and work to make a place their own, they are just like the people who did the same thing before them.  Everyone works to put his stamp on the land, but the land endures while people come and go.  There is much to be learned from the past.  A person might do well to turn the TV off every now and again and go hunt up an old timer.

        Barbara Krider and her lovely granddaughters, Elizabeth and Alexandria, will be sashaying into the neighborhood early next week to help the young Champion couple celebrate their connubial commitment.  When Bert, the cab driver, and Ernie, the cop, harmonized in the rain when George Bailey married Mary Hatch, their song was I Love You Truly.  Whatever the song, hearts will be light.  Singing releases those endorphins that help the immune system fight disease and depression.

        Describe some fun with Old Folks at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Applicable antidotes can be e-mailed to Champion News.  Release some endorphins on the porch at Henson’s Store with some songs like By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Get Me To The Church On Time, or Oh Promise Me.  New beginnings, romance and optimism are all the Vogue as Champions are always looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION—May 26, 2008

        The Memorial Day Celebrations in Champion were just right.  Though the holiday that used to be called ‘Decoration Day’ was originated to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead, it has become an occasion for people to gather for the best of all possible reasons:  Love and Gratitude.  Families and friends joined for the pleasure of each other’s company and to commemorate the lives of special ones who have passed on.  Champions also remember those currently serving The Nation in all the dangerous places in the world.  They have families at home waiting for their safe return.  One family was all together for the first time in 27 years.  Three of the children live in Illinois, one lives over near Vanzant and the fifth in Texas.  The circumstance of their Mother’s birthday drew them together and there was much joy in Muddville.

        The reunion celebration at Denow was going pretty well, they say, until someone started playing a sad song.  “Hear that lonesome whippoorwill.  He sounds too blue to fly…”  Well, the waterworks really broke loose.  The General, unable to contain himself, sobbed uncontrollably and would not be comforted.  It liked to have spoiled the whole affair.  But for the delicious food and the auction, and the drawings, and the music and the fellowship it could have been disastrous.  The meeting was well attended, though the attendance was not recorded this year.  An issue with the engraver also has put the dedication of the Civil War Memorial on hold for the time being.  Those things will be resolved, however, and in future years descendants of those soldiers will be able to read their names and get that feeling of continuity that makes people proud of their heritage.

        Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood indicates that the last few days of May will be ‘barren’ days, but starting on June 1^st planting will be good.  The first and second will still be good for root crops and then the third will be excellent for above the ground crops again.  A long time Champion, granddaughter of I.T. and Hattie Henson, says, “We get a year like this about once in every twenty years.”  With the cost of food and fuel on the rise, some Champions are foregoing most of the ornamental beauties this season in order to cultivate the edible delights.  Beet greens and spinach are very pretty, as are pea blossoms and blooming tomato plants.  It is all perspective.  After the nice rains the weeds almost jump out of the ground.  They just need a little encouragement.

        A little city girl visiting with Grandparents in Champion had a chance for her first ride in the back of a pick-up truck.  It was exciting.  She and her little sister swam at the Mill Pond until their lips turned blue and their teeth chattered.  Her name is Zoey Louise and she met Louise Hutchison with whom she shares a birthday.  She had her picture taken among Louise’s beautiful roses and met Mr. Hutchison who was sitting on the front porch.  His friends and neighbors are glad to know he is feeling better.  Zoey Louise had some Cheetos and purple grape juice down at Henson’s Store and sat down for a nice visit with Mrs. Henson.  Then a friend named Geof gave her some delicious strawberries at the house of the Daughter of Grace.  She was a big help in her Grandmother’s garden and she learned how to pick spinach and leaf lettuce without pulling up the whole plant and how to wash the leaves by dipping them out of a bowl of cold water.  She found two caterpillars on leaves that she later ate herself and decided that she is a real leaf eater now.  She asked, “Grannie, are you going to miss me and be so terribly, terribly sad when I am gone?”  Her grandmother replied that she would indeed miss her, but that she would not spend any time at all being sad.

        There was a photo shoot at Beverly’s Beauty Shop next door to Plumber’s Junction on Tuesday morning, May 20^th, to get some exposure for the beautiful Rose Star Quilt.  It’s a queen sized quilt, hand pieced one winter by Esther Wrinkles and beautifully machine quilted by Ms. Faye Chaney, who has since passed away.  Tickets are being sold in South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Kansas.  Support for the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department is really strong in Champion and the surrounding areas because this Volunteer Fire Department is great.  The men train regularly and are certified for all kinds of hazardous duties.  They are competent and selfless in their service to the community.  They are part of what makes the Champion and Skyline communities especially lovely places to live.

        An E-mail came from “a misplaced Ozark County Hillbilly” who lives in Nashville Tennessee these days.  He says, “Hello way up in Champion!…I read your Items every week and a week or two back you said you went to school at Silver Shade School.  That would make you a Tetrick, Bell, Berry or Hall.  I was wondering if you would give your name and who your parents were.  You can ask Eva Powell who I am.  Thanks & hope to hear from you, Bill Pool.”  Ms. Powell said, “He’s my Mama’s baby sister’s boy.  She was my Aunt Esther Pool.”  She seemed very pleased to have heard from him.  The article to which Mr. Pool refers came from the April 30^th column when Champion’s other Tennesee friend, Darrell Haden, wrote a note giving Douglas Holt permission to make a tape of “All the Late News from the Courthouse,” for an interested Champion.  Mr. Holt had e-mailed that he just happened to have the record of Professor Haden’s song that he would share with permission.  Darrell writes, “I remember when Douglas Holt was a young man growing up on Springcreek.  I knew and appreciated him, his father and grandfather.  Doug is a cousin of Douglas County’s most famous old fiddler, Bob Holt.  Bob and I went to grade school together at Silver Shade in the late 1930’s.”  So it was Darrell Haden and Doug Holt who went to school over at Silver Shade.  It must have been a great school, because those guys seem to have turned out pretty well.

        Sharing music is a Champion thing to do.  Singing helps the immune system to fight off disease and depression.  Report favorite uplifting, light hearted sunny side songs to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  List good reasons not to be sad at Champion News.  Have some Cheetos and purple grape juice at Henson’s Store on the North Side of the Square in the midst of the garden spot of Douglas County where Champions are always looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION—May 18, 2008

        All of Champion is delighted to see Wilburn Hutchison recuperating on his own front porch.  He could not find a more pleasant spot to do his mending.  Louise keeps the hummingbird feeders filled and so there is constant natural excitement going on.  He can at any time cast his gaze out across the hills and fields that have been in his family for generations.  His grandfather, Sam Hutchison, homesteaded the place and it was said that they were all raised and weaned there.  The luxuriant growth resulting from the very wet spring is lush indeed.  The hope is that Wilburn will just enjoy the temporal beauty and not fret about work that needs doing.  That work will always need doing and there will still be plenty of it to do when he is back up to snuff.

        Finally the soil has begun to warm up in Champion.  The danger of a hard frost is surely past and gardens are going in all over the place.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 22^nd and 23^rd will be poor days to plant, but late beets, potatoes, onions, carrots and other root crops could go in on the 24^th and 25^th.  There are lots of potatoes up already and looking good.  Certainly this year looks favorable for the production of weeds of all sorts.  One old Champion woman likes to mulch her garden with newspapers.  She will weed out a little place and then cover it up with wet newspapers and then put the weeds pack on top of the newspapers to keep the wind from blowing them away when they dry out.  It’s a funny process and she claims to get most of her reading done out in the garden.  She just uses the black and white newspaper not wanting to put those colored chemicals into her soil.  Newspapers this time of the year are full of graduation pictures, valedictorians and engagement pictures of optimistic young couples.  It is exciting to see young folks embarking on their new lives full of hope and promise.  That their pictures will wind up mulching some old lady’s squash is of no consequence to them.  That Denlow School class picture of 1949-1950 is certainly a jewel.  No wonder the place used to be called “Upshaw!”  That one will get clipped and saved by many, no doubt.

        The picture taking of the Rose Pink Star Quilt did not come off as planned on Thursday last.  “Twern’t a fit night out fer man ner beast!”  The new plan is to meet up at Beverly’s Beauty Shop there at Plumbers Junction on Tuesday morning, May 20^th, for the photo shoot.  The Internet is a-buzz with the quilt already.  “What size is it?”  It’s a Queen sized quilt, hand pieced one winter by Esther Wrinkles and beautifully machine quilted by Ms. Faye Chaney, who has since passed away.  A photo is available on the Internet at Champion News.  Tickets are being sold in South Carolina, Texas and Kansas.  Support for the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department is really strong in the Champion area, but a chance to win one of Esther’s quilts is ‘coveted!’

        A chance to win the First Ripe Tomato in Champion Contest is dependant on getting started early.  Last year the rivalry was intense.  Louise claimed to have had the first ripe one, but didn’t want to share with the judging committee and besides she already had an antique blue fruit jar just like the one that was being given away as the grand prize.  It will be remembered that local artist, Donna Moskaly, took the prize, though the tomato she shared and with which she was photographed for the paper, was not her first one of the season.  Truthfully, Carol Cleveland, the daughter of Grace, had the first ripe tomato in Champion in 2007.  Since her tomatoes were on plants that she had carried over from the previous year, however, it was decided by the CTCRC (Champion Tomato Contest Rules Committee) that Ms. Cleveland would be ineligible for the prize but would certainly have the pleasure of eating ripe tomatoes when the rest of the contestants were just dreaming of them.  This year in addition to an antique blue fruit jar, the winner of the contest will receive $5.00 worth of quilt tickets (6 tickets) for the coveted Rose Pink Star Quilt as well as a box each of wide mouth flats and regulars.  It is generally agreed that official Contestants need to mill around Henson’s Store somewhat in advance in order to drop hints of their expected success.  Sizing up the competition is one of the tenants of a good contest.

        Dillon and Dakota Watts will be back on the Krider farm for a few days helping out while Granddad is away on a quick trip.  School is out in Tennessee, as well, and those fellows rarely miss a chance to get back to Champion.  They are always a big help and keep the place lively with their antics and fine singing voices.  Other Champion grandchildren will be visiting for a few days.  Zoey Louise and Alexandra Jean will be spending a few days with their Grandparents.  They are up from Austin, Texas.  This will be Alex’s first time on the farm.  She is a real outside girl, though, so everyone is expecting to have a wonderful time.  They will be in Champion just in time to help out with the garden.  Zoey is a big fan of blueberries.  The Eckerts over at Dora say that their blueberries will be ready the end of the first or second week in June.  So Zoey may just have to enjoy strawberries from over at the Simpson Family Farm at Mtn. Grove instead this year.  “When this you see, think of me..”  Wonderful Foxfire Champion, Jack Ryan, said something similar to that one day toward the very end of his life.  He was on a plum tree digging expedition with someone who had grown very fond of him.  Now the plum trees they dug that day are loaded with fruit and the memories of an exceptional individual come back sweetly.  He and Gladys were married young and had an interesting life together, full of good cheer and thoughtfulness.  They were appreciators of the old days and the old ways.  The community is better off for having had them if it is somewhat lonesome for them now.

        Lonesomeness is a real theme for sad songs.  “Don’t forget me Little Darlin, when I’m growin’ old and gray!  Just a little talk before I’m going far away.  I’ll be waiting on the hillside for the day that you call, on the Sunny Side of the Mountain where the rippling waters fall.”  Now that’s lonesome, but it’s hopeful too.  For all the US Service Men and Women serving their Country in the dangerous places of the world, Champions, with Love and Gratitude, are hoping they have someone waiting on the sunny side of their mountains and that they make it home safely soon.  As for the singing, it is a proven fact that music aids digestion and singing releases those endorphins that fight disease and depression.  Of course there are some whose voices can be a little depressing to the ear of a musician.  They know who they are, but that doesn’t seem to stop their wailing.  Copies of the first song in the New Champion Song Book, “Keep on the Sunny Side,” are still available at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square in Champion.  While the motif of the collection is light hearted, uplifting, optimistic music, if one finds some sort of cheer in a sad song he can fill his own songbook with those.

        Report interesting mulch to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Brag about exceptional grandchildren there or at Champion News.  Size up the competition or release some endorphins at Henson’s Store on the Sunnyside of the Street in Delightful Downtown Champion where they are always Looking on the Bright Side!