Champion News

CHAMPION—October 29, 2007

        From Champion to Champion Bud Hutchison’s trail ride was a delightful trip on Saturday the 27^th.  It took seventeen stock trailers to get all the horses to Champion together with two buggies and a wagon.  From there they wound through the back country to Drury for lunch and then made their way back to their beginnings.  There were no bee stings, no thrown riders, no problems of any sort, just a beautiful amble through the colorful countryside.

        Harley Krider is now old enough to be eligible for what was once informally called the “Old Age Pension.”  Younger people around Champion hold him in high esteem and look forward to the opportunity to congratulate him on his milestone birthday when he can manage the trip home to Champion again.

        Dakota Watts, visiting from Tennessee, has harvested his first deer.  He went out with his Uncle Leslie Krider on Saturday morning and brought down a beautiful eight point buck.  He and his brother, Dillon, and parents Linda and Marty were in Champion with Marty’s dad, Steve Watts, for a gospel meeting at the little church in Champion over the week end.  Family and friends gathered from places far and wide.  Champion is always a much improved place when Esther and Raymond Howard are around. They were down from Marshfield on Friday and there is talk of another squirrel hunt one of these days.  Madelyn Ward and her cousin Foster Wiseman cut some lively capers together Saturday.  They are growing fast and are too busy to bother with little Kalyssa just yet.  Kalyssa looks like her Champion Grandmother some say– just beautiful.  Grandparents must be the happiest people around with their benevolent and indulgent smiles.  It’s sweet to see.

        Champion’s pumpkin saw its first frost Monday morning.  The Little Green Bean House is wilting now after a long season of providing tasty green beans, lovely flowers and happy memories for numerous children.  The seasons change and this time of year Champions are reminded of the Brevity of Life.  That is to be the theme of the Halloween Masquerade Parade organized by the Champion Parade Committee.  “Brevity” is the key word and foreigners and gawkers from over at Spotted Hog and Ava will have to look fast to see the procession of Pumpkin Floats, The Headless Cobbler impersonators flying in from Smallett for the occasion, and all the Wild and Wooly Boogers of Booger County.  The Grand Marshall of the parade will henceforth be known as the “Great Booger” and will be chosen by the Committee as the Parade passes before the reviewing stand.  Free Pumpkin Ice Cream is to be furnished by Robert Upshaw who is trying to curry favor with the Committee hoping for an appointment to it.  That hardly seems likely since he is not ‘local’ but a resident of the Fashionable Champion Suburb known as “Vanzant.”  His close ties to the Champion community ( a sister and niece who prefer not to be identified) and the quality and quantity of his frozen confection might purchase a special dispensation.  CPC members are adamant, however, in stating that membership is not for sale, so in parlance familiar to the supplicant:  “it’s a crap shoot.”  The parade will have come and gone before Spotted Hoggers can get their mascot off the trailer and harnessed up for the Great Pumpkin Pull.  They will be sorry to have missed it.  Alas!

         Champion’s  reputation as a bustling berg has been proven out this week in a big way.  Its proximity to the center of the county must account for the mail.  Eulalia Jasmin writes again (with no return address) to say that she had seen the report in the Herald that the Sesquicentennial Celebration had ‘exceeded all expectations.’  She said, “Appreciation has been expressed to Mark Farbin for the Grand Ball Photos, but there were no Grand Ball Photos!”  She went on to inquire if this Mark Farbin was related to Jean Farbin of Jean’s Healthway in Ava.  She said that it had been her first time to pass through Ava and that she had found this store on the square to be ‘altogether charming’ and the people there ‘knowledgeable.’  She had a number of complimentary things to say but expressed an overriding disappointment at not seeing pictures of the dance.  Perhaps they will appear in future issues of the Herald and perhaps Ms. Jasmin will direct her editorial comments directly to the Herald in the future.  Still, her interest in Champion and her colorful remarks are certainly welcome.

         So far this year 836 US Service People have lost their lives in Iraq.  That brings the total to 3,839.  The estimated number of wounded for this year is 5,411 and the official total number of wounded since the beginning of the conflict is 28,171.  Of course, there are many more wounds not reported by the soldiers and many wounds to the hearts of those next of kin and other survivors waiting at home.  To all of those people Champions extend their Love and Gratitude for their service and for their sacrifices.  In an article in the SouthEast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, Bridget DiCosmo reported that when Iraq veteran Robert Wake returned home in Malden, Mo, he found himself homeless.  “I came home to absolutely nothing,” Wake testified at a hearing Tuesday (October 23, 2007) before the Missouri House Interim Committee on Veterans Services.  He returned to Malden after having spent a year in General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital receiving treatment for injuries sustained in the war.  He went on to say that “It is so important that we look at soldiers that are coming home and their families because families are so important to the healing process.”  The committee, appointed last month by House Speaker Rod Jetton, is holding the hearings to give Missourians the opportunity to voice their concerns whether the state’s veterans receive the support they need and deserve.  Champion’s soldier (SSG Moreno, Raul 4-319^th / TF SABER/ FOB NARAY / APO AE 09354) is serving in Afghanistan.  No community in the Country is exempt from concern for those who serve.

         A Champion reported having heard the Dalai Lama speak on Saturday up in Indiana on the subject of Cultivating Happiness.  “My main commitment is the concept of a happy life,” he said. “Much depends on having peace of mind.”  He seems to have the same kind of positive attitude and sense of humor that was the hallmark of Ed Henson.  It would be interesting to learn if he is also a prankster.  Imagine Louise getting her Christmas morning phone call, “Good morning!  Is your refrigerator running?  Well, You better catch it!”

         Tales of beautiful ambles, impending squirrel hunts, things to cultivate, and things benevolent or indulgent are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Email Pumpkin Ice Cream Receipts, pictures of the Champion Halloween Masquerade Parade, (especially of the Great Booger), or pictures of the Sesquicentennial Grand Ball to Champion News.  Colorful remarks may be made at Henson’s Store in colorful Downtown Champion which is just a little to the right of the exact center of Douglas County (please no politics!) where the byword is Champion!—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—October 22, 2007

        Champions sometimes drop their hands from the plow and their shoulders from the wheel long enough for a little diversion and a BLT over at the Junction Café in VanZant.  As it turns out people from all over had the same idea last Thursday.  Sue Murphy was there from Mountain Grovewith her mandolin, Norris Woods had his banjo and Jerry Wagner had his fiddle.  ‘Er long there were two banjos, three mandolins, a base fiddle, a dobro, and three or four guitars.  They played “Just Because,” “The Wednesday Night Waltz,” “On the Sunny Side of the Mountain,” and a great number of other songs and tunes.  The rest of the room was filled with people from far and wide.  Major Londa Upshaw who serves with the Salvation Army  in Hoona, Alaska was there.  (Hoona is 35 miles west of Juno on the Island of Chicakaff.)  Her sister, Darcy Cecil, from Boise, and their sister, Liane Upshaw Hihath, from Meridian,Idaho were there together with their Mother Betty Mae Harris, a.k.a. Susie Upshaw.  They were all planning to leave the very next day to be sure and get back home before Winter because Uncle Robert had frozen their gullets with that famous peanut butter ice cream and had made them all homesick.  Robert’s nephew, Dailey Upshaw, from Omaha, Nebraska was there too visiting with his folks and Dean.  In addition to the musicians there were near to thirty odd people enjoying the evening.  “Odd” is the key word with Robert.  Sharon was heard to say, “Don’t encourage him.”

        A note has come from a person named Eulalia Jasmin:  “Bravo with your Sesquicentennial Celebration!  I overheard them talking about the Ball and the decorations in Jean’s Healthway when I was passing through town on Saturday.  They said there would be a dozen huge tables with beautiful floral decorations and that there would be waltzes in beautiful ball gowns and bowls of floating roses.  Please be sure that those of us who were not invited to attend are not also denied the accounts of at least the Wallflowers.”  It would seem that Ms. Jasmin is an acquaintance of Cimaria Escondida who writes occasionally from Piedras Negras, MX.  They have missed connections this time.It is not known if Ms. Escondida made it to Ava for the Sesquicentennial.  Certainly there was a crowd.  Champion, Eva Powell, said that it was the best parade that she had ever seen anywhere.

        Another note from Darrell Haden who is happy that excerpts from “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave” are appearing in the Herald.  He says“The series has brought a letter from my cousin Robert Haden of Hartville and a telephone call from Howard Bailey of Ozark.  Bob will send notes he made from visiting with his grandfather, G.W.O. Haden.  Mr. Bailey described an encounter with the Headless Cobbler in the fall of 1941.  He is the grandson of a man I remember from my childhood, Dr. Daniel Near.  He was affectionately know as “Dan” or “Dad” Near. I remember his vineyard between our home and Rome.  His grandson, Howard Bailey, moved from Rogersville in 1932 and to near Good Hope in 1935 after three years at Rome.”

        Esther’s gooseberries are in the ground at last.  Her friend, Sharon, came over and got them planted before the last rain.  It was perfect timing.  It is pleasing to see that there are a few persimmons showing up after all.  Competition for them will be stiff, though, and wild things that might not ordinarily go for them will be happy for anything they can get this year.  Dustin Cline allows as how the antelope is tasty and was happy to report having killed a turkey.  A large flock of geese were seen flying over Champion on Sunday afternoon.  They had better keep their altitude over these parts as there are always itchy trigger fingers in Champion.  October’s Full Moon is called the Hunter’s Moon.  In a paper published weekly in Kansas City, former Champion Rich Heffern, talks about eating locally and eating well.  He says that in addition to tasting better and being healthier, locally grown food takes much less ‘fossil fuel’ to produce.  His research showed that the average food item travels over 1,500 miles.  Esther will just have to go a few feet out her back door for her gooseberries next year.  She still has tomatoes on her vines.  Another Champion’s Little Green Bean House is still producing green beans though the frost will get it sooner or later.

        So far in October 28 US Service People have lost their lives in Iraq.That brings the total to 3,834. That is a lot of empty places at supper tables back home.  Sergeant 1^st Class Richard S. Gottfried from Lake Ozark lost his life there on March 9^th, 2004.  There are a number of categories of wounded:  hostile and non-hostile, those requiring medical air evacuation and those not.  Among the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines of the United States there are many thousands of wounded people from that conflict.  Expressions of Love and Gratitude to them for their sacrifices and to the survivors of those not returning will always be appropriate.

        Encouragement of any sort and descriptions of the ball are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Any kind of good news about Champions can be emailed to Champion News.  Jeff and Barb were home over the week end helping their Mom stack firewood and enjoying memories of the wonderful place that is Henson’s Store in the heart of Champion….Looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION–October 14, 2007

        As if Champions were not still reeling from their trip to the “edge of the world” at the Pioneer Descendants Gathering, many ventured over to Mountain Grove for the Quasquicentennial and Autumnfest on the week end.  It was reported to have been an excellent celebration with many renewed old acquaintances and interesting sights to see.  Coming on the heels of Norwood’s Farmer’s Day and just before Douglas County’s Sesquicentennial Celebration to be held the 19^th – the 21^st, it is apparent that organizers of these affairs are not concerned about getting their work done this Fall.  Perhaps they are on top of their harvest time chores or maybe they have hired hands to do the work.  Champions, like country people everywhere, are easily drawn off to town this time of year leaving their shovels in the manure piles and their forks in the hay.  With the lure of an undisclosed number of $150.00 cash prizes to be awarded willy-nilly and the spectacle of the costumes and hope of meeting old friends seldom seen , the sweet potatoes that ought to have been dug by now and the firewood that should be in can wait.  Someone remarked that the hard freeze last Spring has made harvest time easier this year with so few walnuts and not a persimmon or apple to be seen.  With no dogwood berries to speak of and few pawpaws, the wild critters are likely to have a hard time of it this winter.  So Champions flounce off to town to socialize and leave the wild things to harvest what little there is to be had.

        That’s what the folks attending the Alsup, Ousley, Livingston Reunion on the 13^th did.  Tom Alsup told a good story about his Dad, Noël Alsup, when they had the farm at Denlow.  Judy Kent and Mary Martha Williams kept the family laughing which has usually been Robert Upshaw’s job.  He made a fair showing of it however, and family from as far away as Alaska and Idaho enjoyed the day.

        Harley Krider is about to have a birthday.  He is not as old as his brothers but he is much older than most people in Champion.  He is an absentee cattle farmer living off in Illinois leaving family and neighbors to keep track of his interests here.  It is to be reported that the new Angus bull, Alexander the Great (perhaps), has made himself quite at home and seems to have a lovely domestic arrangement with the numerous cows and calves in the herd.  There are pictures of him circulating on the internet taking his ease by the pond with his harem busy by grazing and gestating–such a peaceful pastoral scene.

        Foster Wiseman spent some time in Champion over the week end.  He is learning about climbing that steep hill and running down it.  Over the years many a Champion has sped down that hill sometimes hanging a toe and face planting in the dirt with lunch buckets and McGuffey Readers flying.  Foster has been cautious, however, and so far has enjoyed the thrill of speed without mishap.  He was heard singing, “Sadie’s got her new dress on,” to Dustin Cline who is still loitering about the neighborhood when it pleases him to do so.  He has just returned from a trip to Colorado where he killed antelope which were just playing as they do in the song:  “….where the deer and the antelope play.  ”He came close to shooting a little duck and was heard talking about the fun it would be to ‘plink off’ little prairie dogs.  As to the duck,it was unclear whether he was just considering shooting it or if he had shot and missed.  Local turkeys don’t seem especially worried.

        The sumac is just dripping red, sassafras is starting to change color and some dogwoods and oaks are finally taking on the autumn hues.  This has been an unusual year weather-wise.  Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for saying the world is getting warmer.  Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones published the Atlas of World Population in the Penguin press.  According to them in 30 A.D. there were 170 million people in the whole world.  Right now the United States has almost twice that many people and the whole world boasts six thousand million people….that is six billion people—the number six and nine zeroes.  Since people are mostly made up of water (65% by some accounts), someone said that’s where all the water is going and that’s why its getting so warm.  (He’s thinking of them all standing around together in a line at Silver Dollar City.)  Population density in Champion is still pretty sparse and for as long as it stays that way Champions will be glad.  It is a relative term, however, and Champions are glad when their kinfolks move home and glad to welcome new neighbors.  The world is changing fast but things are still pretty mellow in the hills and hollows in the middle of Douglas County, Missouri.

        It is not so in other places.  Three thousand eight hundred and twenty nine US. Service Personnel have lost their lives in Iraq so far.  Sixty eight of them have been from Missouri.  Everybody is from somewhere and Champions continue to send Love and Gratitude to all those serving their country in the dangerous places or just far from home places.  Still no word has come from Champion’s soldier, Staff Sergeant Raul Moreno who is serving in Afghanistan.  It may be that he has been transferred or that his time is up.  Until their mail gets returned to them though,  Champions will continue to write to him at SSG Moreno, Raul / 4-319^th TF SABER / FOBB NARAY / APO AE 09354.

        There is an old fellow in Champion who has been invited to his 50^th high school reunion.  It would be a long trip to get there and cost quite a bit of money, but it could be done.  He has decided not to go though, because he says that he remembers his classmates as having been young, beautiful, vital people and he doesn’t fancy looking at them all old and unhealthy and saggy.  He doesn’t want to know that their lives turned out any other way than the way they all thought it would be when they were kids together.  Somebody said that he just doesn’t want to have to report on his successes and failures or to have his accomplishments compared with others for fear that he wouldn’t measure up.  Apples and Oranges.  Could a person hope to accomplish more than a tranquil life on the side of a hill in Champion with spring water flowing down and the seasons changing?  The Dali Lama is visiting in the United States.  He lives in exile and has not been to his home in Tibet since 1959.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and accepted it on behalf of oppressed people everywhere.  He says that he believes in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.  His residence is maintained in London where it is getting damp and chilly this time of the year.  It sounds like he would fit in quite nicely in Champion and the weather is better here.

        It would be good weather to plant the gooseberries that Esther Wrinkles received for her birthday if they aren’t in the ground already.  Inquires will be made and services offered.  So much of next spring’s garden has to do with what gets done this fall.  Linda, over at the Plant Place in Norwood, has some excellent suggestions about soil amendments and preparing the garden for winter.

        Suggestions and inquiries are welcome and people or things that would fit right in Champion can be reported to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Spectacles of any sort, examples of flouncing, and of tranquil or pastoral scenes may be emailed to Champion News.  Sunday the 21^st of October is the birthday of Anna Henson who was born in 1905.  She passed away when she was 77 years old and Champions miss her still.  Enjoy some fond memories of her and Ed at Henson’s Store in the Heart of Champion…where like the Dali Lama….Champions are looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION – October 7, 2007

        The “pull of the past” pulled many Champions all the way to Yates for the fifth annual Pioneer Descendants Gathering on Saturday and Sunday.  Betty and Dale Thomas host this charming event on their farm that boasts a mile of Bryant Creek running through it.  The weather was unseasonably warm and those attending strolled slowly around the perimeter of the expansive fields viewing the many exhibits and demonstrations.  It was a treat to see a horse drawn sickle bar mower in action.  There are plenty of them around rusting in farm yards being overgrown with briars or being used as landscape features, but to see one sailing along the edge of a field of tall grass behind a pretty pair of horses is just a delight.  As the grass lays right over, the driver, perched on his spring seat, looks as comfortable as can be.  That may not be the case, but there are few these days who know for sure.

        Over the course of the two days Levon and Karen Lambert ground 120 pounds of corn meal both yellow and white.  Levon has a gas powered grinder that’s a little on noisy side but the cornmeal is choice.  He said that when he was a kid living up Fox Creek from Champion his family would sit around the heat stove and shell corn.  When they got a toe sack full his Dad, Furley Lambert, would carry it down to Henson’s Store.  Ed Henson had a big old ‘hit & miss’ mill and he would grind their corn.  He also said that his Grandmother Lambert would grate corn from the cob on a grater that was used for cutting cabbage.  She would make corn cakes on the wood stove which he said were delicious.  When asked how long he had been grinding corn, first he said, “Well, yesterday and today,” then he said, “Quite a while.”  (Harlan Davis said that Levon Lambert could remember when rainbows were in black and white.)  Not to be missed are Karen’s lovely corn-husk dolls.  The pioneer ideal of utilizing everything available is exemplified in her deft crafting of these beautiful pieces.

        “Home is the ultimate value that humans venerate,” someone said recently.  Kirk Dooms met his Aunt Esther Wrinkles at the Pioneer Gathering and took her on a short ride over to the old homeplace of some of their ancestors and it was a real treat for her to touch this home base again.  Sometimes just a short time away from Champion can cause a great longing for home though the journey be a pleasant one and full of happy meetings and alluring sights.  Wandering Champions now home include Fae, who spent her birthday in Branson kicking up her heels.  Her sister, Kaye, had her heels wet out in the Atlantic Ocean.  It will be interesting to learn if Richard rolled up his britches legs to step out into the surf.  They spent Sunday with their niece, Linda, over in Murfreesboro , TN and then headed home.  Louise sashayed over to Poplar Bluff and came home with a new car for her birthday.  Zoey Louise, who has the same birthday also has a new car for her birthday, though hers’ is pink and has pedals.

        A court mandated trip to Ava brought a Champion some splendid adventure in the big town during the last week.  With jury duty canceled this Champion was left wandering about on a fairly deserted Monday morning Square and was brought up short to see a roadrunner in the storefront of Memory Lane, Antiques, Etc.  The startled Champion pulled out her digital camera and maneuvered perilously into the street to attempt a photo.  The bird was too fast, however, and soon was perched on the window sill of the florist on the North East corner of the square.  As the photographer approached and without so much as a “Beep Beep!” the chaparral cock crossed the street and made as to enter the law offices there.  A woman exited the door about that time and the bird took a quick left and ducked around the corner and then up the alleyway parallel to the North side of the square.  It was an exciting moment…it all happened so quickly.

        There were Civil War re-enactors at the Pioneer Gathering in authentic dress and armed with some of the best weapons of that time.  A conversation was overheard at the Gathering about a new weapon which is a bomb that only destroys magnetic fields.  “The implications are enormous,” they said.  All electricity would go down including everything with an alternator or a generator, every computer and ATM machine, cash register, dialysis machine and on and on.  It certainly gives pause for thought.  A family sending their boy off to the Civil War did so with the understanding that they might never see him again and might never know what happened to him.  Today CNN and other entities have websites on the internet that routinely post the names and photographs of those killed in action.  It is a different world now.  One searching through the alphabetical listings of those names with morbid trepidation hopes not to find the name of a family member, friend or loved one.  Just in Iraq since the conflict began 3,811 fatalities have been confirmed by the Department of Defense with four additional as yet unconfirmed.  Two countries to the east of there in Afghanistan, Champion’s own soldier, SSG Raul Moreno Jr. is serving over on the north east border with Pakistan at FOB Naray.  Love and Gratitude go out to him from Champion Friends and  to all his fellow Soldiers serving there and in every dangerous place.  Cards and letters of encouragement and appreciation can be sent to him at SSG Moreno, Raul /4-319 TF SABER / FOB NARAY / APO AE 09354.  It just takes a regular 41¢ stamp.  His email address is: raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil  Some others who are serving on active duty from this area are Seth Barbe, Keith Baty, Adam Bresler, Christopher Brown, Dustin Brown, Andrew Dale, Chad A. Davis, David Fry, Clay Hatcher, Thomas Hutchinson, Brian Jarrett, Daniel Keene, Timothy Kelly, Cory Morris, Trevor Pence, Amos Reed, Matthew Rossignol, Lyndall Spangler, Arlin Stigall, Brian Thompson, Matthew Thompson.  There are many more as well as this new war touches every neighborhood in the land.  Every Soldier who serves is a Champion.  Anyone wishing to have a Soldier’s name appear in the Champion Items may send it in my mail or email together with any other information about him or her.

        Comfortable things, venerable things, or things that pull, sashay, or allure are welcome to be reported to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Startling things or things that happen quickly need to be emailed to Champion News.  They don’t grind corn at Henson’s Store any more, but there is frequently someone there who remembers when they did over on the North Side of the Square in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION – September 30, 2007

        By all accounts the Champions who attended Farmers Day in Norwood were much impressed and pleased by the whole thing.  In the hustle and bustle of the music and the horses, the mechanical mule, pets in costumes, old cars, cute Shriners in cute red cars, and the Clowns, a prominent Champion was separated from her family.  They didn’t meet up just precisely as planned.  Younguns who fancy themselves these days as being somehow the more reliable family members might have jumped to conclusions and put themselves to a lot more trouble than was necessary.  Worry warts can take the fun out of almost anything and even after they’ve got things figured out, sometimes they just can’t let go so they have to talk and talk about how worried they were, and where all they had to drive and to what lengths they had to go and so that’s what the memory winds up being: not that there was a Great Farmers Day, but a day that So and So got ‘lost.’  Why, she wasn’t lost at all!  Somebody just jumped to conclusions and didn’t look around.  She did have a very good time, however, and she also had her heart filled up that her children love her so and are concerned.  A Champion said that the things that make people so special is that they are so strong and so fragile.

        Phoebe Ward was host to family and friends in a celebration of Madelyn Jean Ward’s first birthday on Friday, Sept .28^th.  Madelyn’s birthday is actually October 10^th. and others celebrating on that occasion were those girls Linda Kaye and Karen Fae, whose birthdays are the 4^th of October.  Attending the soirée were Russell and Sue and Dean Upshaw, Robert and Sharon Upshaw, Michael Upshaw and Elva Upshaw.  Debora (Upshaw) Barker and Kyle Barker were also in attendance.  Linda Krider Watts and her sons Dillon and Dakota were there from Tennessee, together with Richard and Kaye (birthday girl) Johnston, as well as Josh Ward’s Grandparents and his brother Charlie.  Kenneth and Juanita Anderson also attended as did Staci Krider and Dustin Cline, Tanna Jo, Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman, and Fae and Lonnie Krider also enjoyed the fun. Family!  It’s a Champion Thing!

        It was a good thing Phoebe had the get-together for the families, because Kaye and Richard are off on their way to the Brixie Reunion this year being held in Lumberton, N.C.  They will have a wonderful time with folks who have frequently come to this part of the world for the Reunion.  While they are there, Richard and Kaye will wander over toward the Atlantic Ocean just to give it a gander.  It’s a beautiful sight, if kind of unsettling.

        The 26^th of September was the Harvest Moon.  “The night was mighty dark, you could hardly see, because the Moon refused to shine.  There’s a couple sittin neath the willow tree for Love they pine.  The little gal’s kind of scared of the dark, so she says, ‘I think I’ll go.’  The boy began to sigh, he looked up in the sky, and told the Moon his little tale of woe.  Oh!  Shine on!  Shine on Harvest Moon up in the sky!  I ain’t had no Lovin’ since January, February, June or July.  Snow Time ain’t no time to stay outdoors and spoon, so Shine On, shine on Harvest Moon, for me and my gal!”

        Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 3^rd through the 10^th will be excellent days for harvesting.  So any of those Sweet Potatoes, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, squashes, and other things Clever Champions may have growing could be brought in with the expectation that they will store well.  Some are just getting some greens planted and hoping for some mild weather so they will ‘make.’  Some have seen solid black woolly worms and think that’s a bad omen for a hard winter.

        Some think a hard winter would be a good idea.  Champions are resigned to getting what they get.  They do not subscribe to the notion that the possibility of a bad outcome should necessarily stem the tide of Optimism.  Anything could happen!

        A note has come to the Champion News mailbox from Chimaria Escondida of Piedras Negras, MX.  She says, among other things, “It’s good that you people in Champion write to that boy soldier SSGT. Raul Moreno.  How is he?  I hope he is ok.  It is my understanding that you people in the US spend about a Billion Dollars a week on the war in Iraq.  Where do you people get that much money?  How many of your soldiers have died over there now?”  Ms. Escondida goes on with more and more questions.  The Champion response has been:  “Dear Ms. Escondida,  Thanks for your letter.  Perhaps you would like to drop a line to Champion’s soldier at raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil.  He will appreciate it.  We will too.  We haven’t heard from him in a while.  The other part of your question was put to a knowledgeable Champion who says that the United States government is borrowing those billions of dollars a week from the governments of China, Japan and South Korea.  It will be repaid with interest on the installment plan by US taxpayers over the next one hundred years.  That is to say, Ms. Escondida, if your grandchildren are US Taxpayers, their grandchildren will be the parents of the people who are getting close to paying off the debt.  (Meanwhile it is hoped that they do not need health care, education or infrastructure).”  It is to be noted that this Informed Champion is sort of a cynical grouch.  Champion has All Kinds!  The answer to another of her questions:  As of September 29^th, three thousand eight hundred and three US service personnel have died in the conflict in Iraq.  Ms. Escondida seems sort of fractious, but she has indicated that she joins Champions in sending Love and Gratitude to those serving everywhere.

        “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave” is turning out to be an entertaining read!  This part of the world is rich in history and lore.  It doesn’t have to happen in some exotic far away place to be interesting.  Actually, a Champion reported that whole area over there around Springcreek is kind of ‘spooky!’  It has also been learned that L.L. Broadfoot’s book, “Ozark Pioneer” is about to be republished!  The J.P. Harlan Memorial Museum in West Plains has an extensive collection of the works of this artist/historian, whose goal was to illuminate and emphasize the contributions of the Pioneers of the Ozarks to the overall success of the Nation.  The Pioneer Descendents Gathering down at Yates this week end promises to be an illuminating affair.  Few citizens, even Champions!, could ‘hack it’ if put to the tasks of surviving and thriving in the relative hardship of conditions prevalent in this area just a hundred years ago.  History is thought to be the Key to the Future.  It is a gift to have a chance to look into the past.

        Someone asked about the Tea Party at the Little Green Bean House.  It was reported to have been just delightful.  The sandwiches were very fancy, there were many flowers and green beans growing on the Little Green Bean House and there were many Frogs in attendance.  It turns out that Frogs Eat Flies and that is just the best possible thing for an out-door Tea Party!

        Excellent tea party, birthday party, or other kind of party news is welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Rhetorical or any kinds of answerable questions (consider the source) are welcome at Champion News.  Henson’s Store in downtown Champion is a good place to spill beans about anything.  Nothing gets reported from the Store without Authorization!  Rest easy in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION –September 23, 2007

        It is suddenly Autumn and the good news in Champion in recent days has to do with sister city Skyline and the Celebration of Grandparent’s Day on Friday, September 21^st.  What a lovely day!  The school was crowded with visiting Grandparents and there were games outside and a great number of good things going on inside.  Some local Grandmothers with Grandchildren much too far away will go to this celebration in the future to stand in for some Grandparent who can’t make it because they live too far away or for some other reason cannot attend.  Young Olivia from Virginia is visiting with her Grandma Charlene Dupre, a great Champion Friend.  Olivia will be four in October.  This week they plan to visit in Champion at a certain Little Green Bean House.  They will be having a tea party with fancy sandwiches.  They will write a story and take pictures and it promises to be a delightful day!  Some Krider Grandmothers just can’t turn a corner without a grandchild underfoot!  Happy Feet!  Dillon and Dakota will be in from Tennessee for a couple of days and Foster and Eli and Kalyssa will surely be nearby.  Good for all of them!

        Friday, September 21^st, was POW/MIA Awareness Day.  An Awareness Day Color Ceremony was presented by VFW Post 3770 at the Skyline School.  Post 3770 Quartermaster, Joe Kelly, of Norwood,  presented the school principal, Ms. Jeannie Curtis, with a US Flag and a POW/MIA Flag to fly on the appropriate days.  Post 3770’s website, www.vfwwebcom.org/mo/post3770 has some excellent photographs taken then at Skyline and at a similar ceremony held later that day in Norwood. The Missing Man Table Speech given at Skyline is also detailed there.  Notes on the website say, “It was Grandparents Day at Skyline School so the ceremony was well attended by all students, staff, and visitors.”  Good for all of them!

        Champion’s own soldier, SST Raul Moreno is serving in Afghanistan.  His address is SSG Moreno, Raul/ 4-310^th, TF SABER/ FOB NARAY/ APO AE 09354/ email:  raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil  Just any kind of correspondence is welcome there.

        Serving soldiers and Veterans appreciate having their efforts acknowledged.  The survivors of those who don’t return also appreciate the recognition.  To all of them Champions extend their Love and their genuine Gratitude.

        The Pioneer Descendents Gathering is drawing nigh.  It will be an education to anyone who will venture down, down to the ‘edge of the world’ at Yates.  It’s not so far, but such a lovely trip!  There will be blacksmithing, music, good food, and an opportunity to meet good neighbors and learn about what it took to make a go of it in these parts years ago.  It is still not an easy place to get by but it has its good points.  Molasses making will be going on and Betty Thomas reported the molasses making on Saturday the 22^nd at Tony and Linda Stilling’s place was an excellent experience though it took some time.  There will be soap making, rail splitting, demonstrations of all sorts including Native Americans, Mountain Men and Civil War re-enactors.  Very exciting!

        More interesting mail to Champion:  “You may already know that Tom and I ( Arlene) had friends from Georgia visit with us.  They were curious to know why we had left Georgia, skeptical that we had made a good choice?  Georgian’s are that way you know……..We gave them the choice of destinations on Friday between Branson and Champion.  Being interested in historical sights they chose Champion.  We went by the Henry and Minnie Cooley homeplace ( Rd 234?) and then on to Henson’s store.  It was the highlight of their vacation so far.  They enjoyed Rockbridge but were thrilled to have stepped into history, even for a brief visit.  Bob Chadwell stopped by Henson’s and we all had a nice chat, like old friends sitting on the porch on a warm day ……Marsha and Larry approve of our move!  Blessings, Arlene (Cooley).” 

        On Sunday afternoon the Ozark Video Magazine on Channel 21, had an excellent program on the reunion held twice a year by the old pros of the ‘Golden Age of Radio.’  Among others, Dr. Jim Baker interviewed Dock Martin and Carl Haden.  They talked about their live music radio shows during the 30s, 40s, and 50s.  The Haden Family was composed of the six kids and Mom and Dad, and adopted steel guitar player Doc Martin.  It was a very informative program that reinforced the notion that the Ozarks is a hot-bed of musical creativity.  Darrell Haden from over in Tennessee, also quite a music aficionado, has sent a copy of his book “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave,”  published by The Kinfolk Press in 1967.  It’s an exciting read!  “The writer knows personally that the Smallett Cave Legend was often used as a bugaboo by parents to frighten children into better behavior and to keep them away from the cave itself.”

        Where is a good ‘bugaboo’ when one is needed?  Children may not be easily frightened these days, but this is a compelling story and it is just the right time of the year for such a tale.

        Jury Duty is a privilege, they say.  Some think that if they were to get railroaded or have a shenanigan pulled on them and wound up in court, they would like to have someone like themselves on the jury—a ‘Jury of Your Peers.’  One guy asked another guy in the presence of others, “So, are you still beating your wife?”  If the man were to answer, “No,” the implication is that he used to beat his wife but is no longer doing so.  If he were annoyed and said, “No!  I have never beat my wife!”  some might think that his flustered response indicated that he had something to hide.  ‘He protests too much.’  It’s a ‘loaded’ question.  The question comes to mind in a conversation concerning Champion’s Long Time Friend, Roger Wall, a Dedicated Friend to Douglas County and a Decorated Veteran.  Repeating something doesn’t make it so.  Rushing to judgment without all the facts is a receipt for injustice.  Innocent until proven guilty….is the rule.

        The 29^th Brixey Reunion will be held in North Carolina this year!  Someone said that if all the family trees from this part of the country were all drawn out they would tangle up together like Briar Rabbit’s briar patch!  A conversation was overheard referring to the wife of the son of the sister of the girl that married the person in question’s brother.  There is an old song “I’m My Own Grandpa.”  It’s very complicated.

        Complicated things, good bugaboos, rules, things as slow as molasses are all welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Any kind of report about how Louise Hutchison or Zoey Louise spent their birthday can be e-mailed to Champion News.  For good feelings as of old friendships (“Fine as frog-hair split three ways!”) the key is a few minutes spent sitting in the sun on the porch at Henson’s Store in historic Champion–Looking on the Bright Side.

CHAMPION – September 17, 2007

        Kalyssa Wiseman has made her first trip to Champion to visit with her Grandparents and Aunt Staci.  She came with Foster and her folks.  Her great aunt Vivian Floyd was there as well as great aunt Barbara Krider and great uncle Harley.  Faye said Kalyssa has long pretty fingers that come from the Upshaw side of the family.  On Sunday everybody had a good visit with Esther and Raymond Howard down again from Marshfield.  There were some stories overheard about Raymond’s bee keeping days and bees flying out of his shirt when a hive went wild on him over at Richard Johnson’s house.  More will have to be learned about that.  Esther’s red hat and sweet smile had everyone in a cheery mood.

        The squeak of saddle leather and rattling of wagon harness broke Champion’s stillness on Thursday last.  When the wagon train rolled into the square it was greeted by a number of people curious about the wagons and the stories of the trail.  A couple of Champions exchanged glances and made a tacit agreement to politeness when Wagon Master Clifton Luna asked one if “the West Plains Wagon Club train isn’ about the biggest thing that happens in Champion?”  Being from over in Dora, he is not acquainted with the furious hubbub of activities around Champion.  The person he addressed told him, “Yes,” that the wagon train following right on top of the Champion School Reunion did represent some of the busiest times of the year.  That person didn’t mention the regular parades, ceremonies and celebrations that hardly let the dust get settled from one to the next.  One of the wagons had a sign that said, “This wagon runs on oats, don’t step in the exhaust.”

        A conversation with Esther Wrinkles revealed the passing of her friend, Charmain Young from Mountain Grove.  Ms. Young had been ill the last few months.  For many years she had cared for her mother and for her invalid husband.  Her mother passed away about a year ago and then her husband about six months ago.  Esther used to make pies for her and they had been friends for many years.  They had met back in the 40’s.  The young people used to go to all the pie suppers and picnics around.  At one of those pie suppers at Champion, Blaine Dobbs got drunk and kicked the back door in at the school.  This was the old school building before it burned.  They had him arrested and it was a good thing for people to know that they didn’t put up with too much foolishness in Champion.  Still there was mischief anywhere there was a bunch of young people.  Esther said that around Halloween there were some that would always tip Ed’s (Henson) toilet over.  One time he waited in there with a shotgun.  She didn’t say how that turned out.  She did say that some of them put Clifford’s plow up in a big tree. At a picnic in the area now where V highway meets the county dirt road, Blaine Dobbs hit Fait Upshaw in the head with a rock about as big as a fist.  Esther said a lot of the old picnics that used to be held at Brown’s Cave and other places had to be stopped because of the drinking.  She had been visiting with some friends who told her a story about some old time backwoods people who didn’t get to town too often.  One of these fellows took a notion to go to town and while he was walking down the sidewalk he saw a mirror in a store window.  He looked at it and thought, “Why, that’s a picture of my old Dad!” so he bought it.  On his way home he got to thinking that his wife didn’t ever care for his old Dad that much so he decided to hang the picture in the barn.  Every day he would go down there and look at the picture.  His wife got suspicious and when he was off in the field one day, she went down to the barn.  “Huh,” she said, looking at the mirror, “so that’s the old critter he’s been hanging around with!”

        Alexander the Great Bull has arrived on Barbara and Harley’s farm.  ( A Prominent Champion says, “Things happen when Harley’s home!”)  The bull is an 18 month old black angus bull raised by Jack Williams from over at Mountain Grove.  He wasted no time in exiting the trailer and making himself at home in the pasture.  It is yet to be seen if he is indeed a Great bull.  That is an auspicious name.  Barbara said that there had been a lot of shooting of the bull prior to the purchasing of the bull.  Meanwhile down at Henson’s store, Elmer Banks was talking about an old neighbor of his who had published in the paper a notice that a certain cow was molesting his homestead.  He didn’t like the cow, nor did his wife, nor his dog.  He said it was a pretty heifer with a tag in her ear and he gave the tag number.  He said that within a certain time the cow needed to be claimed or it would be enjoyed by the entire community in a barbeque.  Well, he knew the whole time whose cow it was and as a matter of fact it belonged to Elmer Banks and Elmer had been running cattle on the man’s place.  All he had to do was call Elmer on the phone!  Instead he published the thing in the paper for people all around the county to read.  Elmer put up with no small amount of hoorawing about it.  There was another Champion in the store who had a sad bull tale.  A neighbor of his had a no-account bull and when his bull crossed the fence to help the no account bull tend to his business the good bull took a bullet.  It was a sorry affair all around, a sad one too.  Someone remarked to Foster’s old Dad when he came into the store dressed in his camouflage, that they had seen turkey gobblers big as emus over yonder.  It is to be hoped that that very someone hadn’t spooked his chances of shooting one of them!  Maybe of an evening he’ll get another chance if folks will just stay home.

        Faye and Kaye, raised as good girls to respect their elders, are being respectful of their sister-in-law who had her birthday on August 25^th.  Tanna’s birthday got overshadowed by the birth of her daughter Kalyssa, but she isn’t complaining.  September 21^st   Louise Hutchison will have a big celebration of some sort to celebrate her seventy second birthday (Who would believe it?) and she shares her birthday with Little Zoey Louise down in Austin who will be four years old.  That’s the wedding anniversary of Tanna and Roger.  Sharon and Farel will be celebrating one of those soon.  Everybody’s getting excited about the Pioneer Descendents Day down at Yates in a couple of weeks.  So as far as the eye can see Celebration is the Watch Word in Champion.

        On the 21^st, the VFW Post 3770 out of Mountain Grove will have a flag presentation including a POW-MIA flag at the Skyline School.  Pete Proctor will officiate and the ceremony will be at 11 o’clock.  Champions will be thinking about their soldier, Raul, and the families of the now three thousand, seven hundred eighty two of his fallen comrades.  Love and Gratitude are the other Champion Watch Words.

        Watch words, gobbler and bull stories, examples of friendly hoorawing are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Squeaks, rattles and stories of the trail are welcome at Champion News.  To observe the frenetic festive activities at Champion, just take a seat on the porch at Henson’s Store in beautiful downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!