Champion News

The wide veranda hardly proved wide enough for the Sometimes Sunshine Porch Band on a seventy-five degree February Wednesday. Often enough comprised of just a couple of enthusiastic amateurs, the band suddenly had two guitars, two mandolins, two fiddle/violins, and two harmonicas. Jeff Bartch brought his harmonicas and his friend Dick Nugent, himself a purveyor of fine harmonics and a talented player. A pair of back forty-fence neighbors picked the mandolins and the fiddles bowed by an opera singer and the bright light of Red’s Slice and Scoop. The General flailed one guitar while the Whetstone Kid played rhythm and lead and learned some music theory from a violinist. Old waltzes and gospel tunes, bluegrass and country songs filled the air. It was a red-letter day, also a red-flag day. We are cautioned to take extra care when it comes to burning. The woods are dry. The humidity is low. The danger is high.

Ruth Fish Collins has a lot of twos and fours in her birthday: 02-24-42. We hope it was a good one for her. Ruth has a beautiful voice and sings, “It was colder than a well-diggers ankle in Cut Bank, Montana” and “Buelah Land.” Skyline sixth grader, Ryanne Harvey shares her birthday on March 3rd with Dennis Schumate, who wears a t-shirt sometimes that says, “Mandolin players fret a lot.” Linda Heatherington may bid a grand slam in her birthday bridge game on the 5th. Sue Murphy’s birthday is March 8th. Hopes are that she is still strumming her mandolin, singing “In the Gravel Yard” and “Jesus is Coming Soon.” Every culture across the world seems to have music of some kind–good medicine.

J.c. Owsley cut a wide loop through Douglas County Wednesday. He lives up in Cross Timbers on a beautiful cow farm where he often photographs the stunning sunrises and sunsets. He always likes to chew the fat with his cousin, The General, when he is this neck of the woods. He enjoyed the music and made sure to secure his copy of Katilyn McConnell’s “Ozark Pie Project and Diary” and his cow bell. He says, “Where else can a person buy a cow bell these days?” His growing collection has mostly been sourced in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another,” said Charles Dickens.  Don Hamby reminds us “The seed of good deeds become a tree of life.”  Emily Dickinson said, “Unable are the Loved to die, for Love is Immortality,” and she said, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”   The precious love and support of family and a beautiful community of friends in sad, hard times is a blessing that an Old Champion hopes for everyone who is experiencing grief.  The world changes.

We have much to celebrate and many reasons to be grateful.  Skyline kindergarten student, Everett Nelson, had his birthday on the 15th.  We remember dear Trish Davis on the 17th and that is the day we celebrate Linda Clark, sweet daughter of Grannie Grunt. Skyline 3rd grader, Perry Banks and 5th grader, Rayleigh Harvey, party on the 18th, also the big day for Champion Pete Proctor and Fox Creek farmer, Madelyn Boehs.  We remember sweet Ruby Proctor on the 19th.  She once said that when she was a kid there would be snow on the ground in Champion from Thanksgiving to Easter.  Mike Powers and Skyline 5th grader, Jaylee Sudderth, will enjoy the 20th of February for their birthday and we sing to Joanna Bell on the 21st.   Native Champion Stacy Krider Cline will be celebrated over in Tennessee on the 23rd.  On the 24th Arne Ahlstedt will likely spend his birthday teaching young folks some gardening tips.  Second grader, Zachary Harvey will party on the 28th. Frankie Proctor, Ruby’s son and Pete’s brother, has Leap Day February 29 for his birthday.  Happy birthday to all of you. Leap about and celebrate.

Folks in Scotland are celebrating having vanquished England in the Six Nations Rugby Championship games in Edinburgh.  Scots might be ready to beat them again with another Independence referendum.  The last time they declined over fear of not being permitted to be in the European Union.  Then they were betrayed by Brexit. We’ve heard the Scottish proverb “Be sure to taste your words afore you spit them.”  That is probably good advice, though holding our tongues can sometimes be a struggle.

As we observe the birthday of George Washingon, Founding Father and first president this week, we remember our own struggle as one of sixty-two countries that can now celebrate independence from Great Britain.  Ken Burns’ documentary on the American Revolution is well worth the look.

Champions were much delighted with a rainy Valentines Day.  We learn from Edgar Allen Poets that long before chocolates and roses, Valentine’s Day had a far darker beginning. The holiday traces back to Saint Valentine, a Roman priest who lived in the 3rd century under Emperor Claudius II. According to legend, Claudius believed single men made better soldiers and banned young men from marrying. Valentine defied the order and secretly performed weddings for couples in love. When his actions were discovered, he was arrested and eventually executed on February 14, around 269 AD.  Another story claims that while imprisoned, Valentine befriended–and possibly healed–the jailer’s blind daughter. Before his death, he allegedly signed a letter to her “from your Valentine,” a phrase that may have inspired the modern tradition of love notes.  Over time, the Church honored him as a martyr.  Later, medieval poets connected the date with romance and courtly love. Eventually, the legend transformed into the celebration we know today. So, behind every red rose lies a story of rebellion, sacrifice, and a love that refused to bow to power.”  In 1959, which some of us remember, Connie Francis sang, “Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me!” Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Calvin Chambers said, “Things will not always go as planned, but even the unplanned can be beautiful.” Of course, we had planned for a mild January with a little warm rain every now and then. Instead, we are being dazzled as the sun catches and bedazzles the one drop falling from the crystalline icicle drooping from the roof. Then we ponder the number of Purple Finches at the feeder with the many Cardinals and observe that the Blue Jay and the Red Bellied Woodpecker are not friendly with each other. Before it all melts, we will marvel at February’s full moon lighting up the deep snow still lingering. This is not what we planned, but it is beautiful.

Some planned activity of making an inventory of their canned goods and dealing with all those empty fruit jars has some Old Champions grateful for the bounty of past gardens and hopeful for the growing season ahead. Edie over at the L and E Organic Farm said, “Might be lots of snow outside, but that means get dirty inside! Potting up for cold frame planting!” She is ahead of her Champion friends who have lots to learn from her.

Sandra Powell will have a birthday on February 13th. Her mother, Eva Powell, gave us a good tip about dealing with dogs that want to aggressively chase your rig out our country lanes. Her tip was to just slow down, way down. The dogs get bored and lay down in the shade. The 13th is also the day Claire Shannon celebrates. In times past she was a violin student and performed in “The Nutcracker.” Imagine having your birthday on Valentines’ Day. Shelby Ward can claim that distinction. We hope you are all well celebrated and appreciated for yourselves and for the parts you play in the lives of your friends and families.

What is the best idea for a Valentine gift? Candy and flowers can hit the spot, but so can lots of other things. They say a man who can cook is adorable, but the man who will wash dishes is irresistible. “I love you for a hundred thousand reasons, but most of all I love you ‘cause you’re you.” Jim Reeves put those beautiful words into music. Music as a purveyor of romance can hardly be beat. So, sing to each other. You know your song.

The General was unusually brief in his announcement that the Vanzant Jam was a ‘go’ for Thursday the 5th with hardly any superfluous information except that part where he talked about having been isolated, presumably due to the inclement weather, during which time he “made some cupcake size pot pies using hummingbird livers and gizzards using the recipe my cousin from Cross Timbers, MO gave me. They were delicious. Thanks J.c.” It turns out that The General is kin to any number of Champions, most of whom are happy to see him coming. Cousin J.c. Owsley plans to be back in these parts one of these days to buy his copy of Kaitlyn McConnell’s “The Ozarks Pie Project Diary” at the Champion Store. One time, a few years back, around 2016, he visited Champion riding a big white mule named Dot, an animal borrowed from a friend. He shared a story: “An old friend of mine once raffled off a dead horse and I asked him if it made anyone mad. He said, ‘only the guy who won, so I just gave him back his money.’” J.c. likely has many yarns to spin around the old stove, and his Champion friends will always be glad to see him coming.

Leo Buscaglia said, “Be careful about giving advice, for wise men don’t need it, fools won’t heed it, and you’ll wind up talking to yourself.” That sounds like some of the lyrics that singer, songwriter Jesse Welles from Ozark, Arkansas might write. When asked about how he felt about being nominated for a Grammy Award for his music he said that he had an innate feeling of a duty to be optimistic and to have faith in the future. He thinks it is the duty of artists not to grow cynical. He sounds like a Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!