October 18, 2008
CHAMPION—October 18, 2008
A beautiful Sunday afternoon sometimes finds sightseers touring Champion. They come from Mountain Grove and other places that are not too far distant from Champion, though Champion is a world away from the hustle bustle of even a small town. It is one of those phenomena like the summer time way it takes so much longer to get to the Mill Pond than it does to get home from there. Champion is where the Heart is for Champions. So it is understandable that Sunday day-trippers might make the tour for the pleasure of the autumnal vista or to somehow acquire and draw down the distinctive culture of the place by observing it on the sly. As a Sunday diversion it renders an impression of picturesque postcard quaintness. The visitors stroll about then unimpeded and take photos at will, as if they could capture the place in its quietness. Weekdays, however, find Champion a vital hub of activity… a veritable hot bed of commercial hubbub. The economic downturn of the place is felt equally among Champions as with Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett is immune to the travails of the market on account of being fantastically rich. Champions find themselves mostly immune as well. In the words of Bob Dylan: “When you aint got nothing, you got nothin to loose.” Being in the same boat with Warren Buffett is sort of a Champion thing! What a deal! (Mr. Buffett is a bridge player.) He is also a successful investor and a great philanthropist…he sounds like a Champion…like you could meet him walking up on the porch at Henson’s Store. He may never have spent a depression winter and summer feeding on turnips because that’s all there was to be had…but he might have. Champions will be sure to ask next time they see him.
Rogene Paskins is another bridge player. She is a new neighbor who moved in some distance South of Champion a couple of years ago. Some Champions met her at Sally Miller’s Citizenship Shebang on Saturday. A hundred people showed up to congratulate Sally on her new status and to celebrate in general. It was a great event! Sally was moved by the outpouring of so many genuine good wishes and the well-wishers were much elevated by her acknowledgment. When someone wants what you have it makes you look at it with a new appreciation. The registered voters of whatever persuasion were given a timely reminder of the value of their ballot. Red, white, and blue balloons, and American flags flying on every table and wall were the decorations. Decidedly live American music swelled the hearts of all. General celebrations included birthdays and anniversaries and the chance to see seldom seen friends and to become acquainted with new ones. Rogene will soon be completing foursomes and revealing whether she bids the convenient minor or will open a four card major. (Reckon Warren Buffett is a proponent of the convenient minor?)
The big topics of conversation in Champion these days are the ‘wooly worm’ and the persimmon seed. People have seen solid dark wooly worms and solid pale ones. There have been reports of wooly worms dark on each end and light in the middle. There are reports by some that very few wooly worms have been seen at all. Persimmon seeds are proving to be spoons inside, by and large. Someone said he opened a seed that had two spoons in it. Some squirrels have very fluffy tails and some are thin and scrawny. The upshot of all this, General, is that the winter will be whatever it will be. These tell-tale signs like all prognosticating tools are subject to interpretation. The Champion thing to do is to be prepared for a hard winter and then if it is an easy one it will be very easy. “It’s a challenge to live in a sylvan setting,” says a Champion neighbor Franciscan Brother Josef. “It grows on you. The wildness is so freeing. You do develop a relationship with nature. That in itself brings you closer to God.” He sounds like a Champion too!
Last year Champion pumpkin saw first frost on October’s last Monday. It came a little earlier the previous year and so far this year it has been in the weather forecast but has yet to make its chilly appearance. Some are ready for it. Gardeners persist and see that Linda’s Almanac designates the 23rd through the 27th as good days to grub out weeds and briars and other plant pests. The walnut harvest has gone well. B.and B. Barnhart had hauled off 1300 pounds of them by the end of last week! So the seasons continue to roll by. Bud Hutchison’s trail ride will be making its way in and out of Champion on Saturday. Last year it took seventeen stock trailers to get all the horses to Champion. From there they saddled up and made a pleasant amble through the back country to Drury for lunch and then back again. This is a much anticipated event in the area as local residents show up at Champion to get a look at the outfit or just wait around on their front porches for them to pass by. Like most Champion parades, there is as much gawking done by the paraders as by the observers. Somebody will probably be singing old cowboy songs. “I ride an old paint and I lead an old dan. I’m going to Montana to throw the hoolihan.” Or perhaps someone will sing the saga of the Strawberry Roan. Some Champions might just stay close to the fire and listen to their old Marty Robbins records.
“We are tenting tonight on the old camp ground. Give us a song to cheer our weary hearts, a song of home and friends we love so dear.” Songs of war seem to fit for every war. “Alas for those comrades of days gone by Whose forms are missed tonight. Alas for the young and true who lie Where the battle flag braved the fight.” Civil War songs fit for the remebrance of the 4185 who have fallen in Iraq and the thousand more so far in Afghanistan. Their survivors have Love and Gratitude coming from their Nation. Meanwhile, the seasons are changing ‘over there’ and another long cold winter approaches. Champions keep those who serve in their best daily thoughts.
Other Champion thoughts are full of birthday wishes for Madelyn Jean Ward who celebrated her second birthday on October 16th! Congratulations! Other birthdays are being celebrated by a talented artist up on C Highway and by a sweet potato grower over on Cold Springs Road, now eligible for her Old Age Pension!
Persimmon receipts or any kind of optimistic statements are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion News. Look in on the internet at www.championnews.us to catch up on old news or to hear a tune by local yokels. Look for Warren Buffett on the porch at Henson’s Store in the financial heart of Champion where stock is on the hoof and Champions are Looking on the Bright Side!
