Champion News

EDINBURGH—April 14, 2014

        Travelers coming into Champion from distant places are met with hospitality and veiled curiosity.  One does not wish to be nosy or rude but it is interesting to know what brings a wanderer through the village.  It is a tribute to a beautiful place and good people that someone from the great outside can be so easily enticed to stay a while.  “Out goers and in comers made, make every land.”  These words appear on a tapestry which was taken from a design by Alasdair Gray.  The tapestry is a square about seven feet to the side.  It features thistles (the National flower) at every corner and in the center with arrows going in and out signifying lands and nations.  It is actually a ‘gun tufted’ rug tufted at Dovecot Studios by a gentleman named Jonathan Cleaver.  The studio is housed in the building that was the first heated indoor swimming pool in Edinburgh back in the time of Queen Victoria.  The pool has been covered over by a gleaming floor where the massive wooden looms stand.  The Weaving Floor Viewing Balcony is open to the public to view the weaving studio below.  Go to www.dovecotstudios.com for an amazing virtual tour.  It is easy to ‘google up’ Alasdair Gray as well.  The world seems to be quite at one’s fingertips now days.  It is sure that old Champion out goers will be happy incomers once more just as the Upshaws came home again to roost after their great family visit to Dalton, Arkansas.

        The General said, “I went on a trip today to Dalton, Arkansas (first time farther than eight miles from home in many moons).  A hand written sign taped to a window at the only business in town, ‘FREE to a good home, speckled roosters.  Do Not Eat.’  I lost interest in the bargain after reading the last three words.”  Highlights of the clan adventure were The Grand Canyon and the Rice-Upshaw Homestead.  The Rice-Upshaw House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as an excellent example of an early nineteenth century log dwelling.  It was built in 1826 and is now the oldest standing building remaining in Arkansas, and a rare surviving example of a building from Arkansas’s territorial period.  Reuben Rice came to Arkansas from Hawkins County , Tennessee, in 1812.  His granddaughter Lydia married Andrew Jackson Upshaw and continued to live in the home which had become known as “Old Monarch.”  The house, owned by Rice and Upshaw family members for almost 180 years, was donated to the Black River Technical College.  The home has been restored and is open for tours by appointment.  This trip was clearly well planed and the Upshaws all looked like they were having a wonderful time.  Some of that might just be that they really enjoy each other’s company.

        Dylan Watts would have had a good time on that family jaunt.  He is over in Tennessee where they all came from to start with and when he is not motocross mud jumping motorcycles he is picking the banjo in with a bunch of guitar playing cousins.  He just had his birthday on the 12 of April and it is a fairly sure bet that he had a good time.  Bob Berry celebrates his birthday on the 14^th of April.  Champions miss him and Mary Goolsby of in their new situation.  It would sure be nice to see them pulling into Champion in the beautiful old Studebaker again.  Maybe summer travels will find them coming ‘home’ again.  Champions would like that.  Bob shares his day with Skyline first grader Coby Wallace and with 7^th grader Morgan Whitacre.  Prekindergarten student Wyatt Lakey has his birthday on April 15^th so people will always be able to remember that something special is going on that day.  Dusty Mike might be out on the road on his special birthday, the 15^th.  Drayson will be glad to see his old Papa when he makes it home.  Vivian Krider Floyd will be enjoying her birthday that day too.  Cards and phone calls and cyber messages from family and friends will let her know that she is much loved.  Then the inimitable George G. Jones over in Stockton can stroll by the mirror and figure he is still looking pretty good all things considered.  Olivia Trig Mastin will have her birthday on the 16^th.  She lives up in Springfield near her grandmother and is therefore a lucky young lady.  Toby Marceaux is in the 8^th grade at Skyline.  His birthday is on the 17^th so he might get to do a little partying in school.  Next week a whole new group of preschoolers can get their start at Skyline.  Helen says that preschool screenings will be held during the week of April 21-25.  She says to make an appointment with the office and bring birth certificates, shot records, social security number and proof of residency.  It is a real asset to the community to have this wonderful little school getting the future voters, doctors, farmers, musicians and adventurers off to a good start.  Champions all!

        Linda says that people are not quite ready to get their gardens in since there is another hard freeze on the way and the possibility of more before the weather gets really settled for Spring.  She has been selling lots of hostas and peonies and perennials of that nature.  Her cole crops and other vegetables and flowers are coming along nicely.  Her Almanac says that the 16^th and 17^th will be good days for planting beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, peanuts and other root crops.  Also good for cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, celery, and other leafy vegetables.  They will be good days for starting seedbeds and for transplanting.  Get a copy of the Almanac there at The Plant Place in Norwood or consult it on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown G & G or on the website at www.championnews.us.

        Over in Edinburgh Champions have been busy enjoying the National Gallery where there are real Rembrants, Van Goughs and Reubens.  They have seen some of the many treasures of the National Museum and have climbed almost to the top of the extinct volcano that is Arthur’s Seat in the middle of town.  They have seen great tapestries in the making and bird sanctuaries and narrow mysterious streets winding up and down steep hills.  And music!  Bluegrass is as sweet in Edinburgh as it is in Vanzant or McClurg.  A monthly gathering at the Revarie finds friends meeting who have been playing together for thirty years.  Gordon is a guitar virtuoso, also a fine fiddler and autoharp enthusiast.  Bill plays banjo but his main instrument is the dobro.  Graham plays a fiddle, a guitar, or a mandolin all of which he made from a single salvaged slab of American black walnut when an old bank building was being refurbished.  Ian is a banjo expert.  He is playful and generous and brilliant.  How lovely it would be to get him and Wayne Anderson together!  The young bass player never misses this jam session and on this particular Friday the group was enhanced by a young Englishman carrying the Gibson mandolin he inherited from his great grandfather and a little Romanian guitar with its face scarred from his rowdy and passionate playing.  Add then a lovely young Canadian lady with her cello.  When it was her turn to kick off a tune she went for “Ode to Joy” which all the fellows joined in with great enthusiasm and somewhere along the line let it morph into “Yankee Doodle” then back again with all the lovely smiles and camaraderie that musicians are known for.  The world over they seem to be looking at the bottom of the clouds when they are searching for a melody or a lyric.  What ever may be the object of your search, if it is pleasant and convivial it is likely to be found in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

EDINBURGH—April 7, 2014

        One of the marvelous aspects of travel is the opportunity to compare the known with the unknown.  Busy streets, old and cobbled, have large numbers of people walking quickly toward you and rapidly approaching footsteps behind you and cars whizzing by closely from unexpected directions down long canyons of four and five story buildings with the sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls.  A country person, used to the quiet, might take some time to become accustomed to the swift pace of life.  Though it is ever so much more tranquil, even on the broad and beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek life seems to be whizzing away quickly for folks who see how little there is of it left to waste.  Champions live it as it happens.

        J.C. Owlsey has a fifty year old son!  Jesse just had his birthday and now J.C. says he can no longer tell his friends that he is only 59.  He is young at heart and, after a certain point, that is all that counts.  Raylee and Rylee are twins who have just celebrated their first birthday.  They have Buzz and Sharon for grandparents so they are already geared for fun and excitement.  Most likely they will be musical as well since they have it sprinkled so liberally through their family.  Dylan Watts has changed his profile picture on Facebook to reflect his love of fishing.  He is holding up a couple of nice looking crappie and has a grin on his face that is now the confident grin of a young man.  It seems like yesterday that he was three years old and on the stage with his Granddad at the Skyline Picnic singing “I’ll Fly Away.”  Now he is picking the banjo in a way that would satisfy his Granddad that the gift has been passed on.  Sherry Bennett and Laine Sutherland keep local jam sessions and news of what is going on in the music community posted on the internet for the benefit of the wayside wanderer.

        Probably every place in the world has its own version of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  One such place is called The Royal Oak where people gather to visit, to tell stories and to hear music and to take their dreuth.  A great story teller and music appreciator is Ms. Violet Piago.  She is in her early eighties and has retired back to her hometown of Edinburgh (Edinburra) after having had an exciting life working all over the world.  Most of her career was in the waxworks.  Many have heard of Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum which is exclusive to London.  Violet worked for a competing firm that serves museums and entertainment venues from Australia to Canada and every which way.  Her specialty is hair.  One strand at a time, she gave Elvis his coiffure.  She is a funny, generous and kind lady with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a clear vision to see right to the heart of a matter—whatever the matter may be.  “There’s nothing new under the sun,” quoted she.

        Great news has come from Tim Scrivner about the Skyline RII School Foundation.  “On the subject of the DPIL (Dolly Parton Imagination Library), so far we have provided a total of 707 books for our local preschoolers with 28 currently receiving monthly books and 13 who have graduated the program.”  Anyone in Douglas County with a child new-born to five years of age can sign up to get a new, age-appropriate book sent to the child each month at no cost to the family.  Everyone is eligible regardless of income or any other consideration.  Find applications at the Skyline School or at Henson’s Grocery & Gas in Downtown Champion.  There will be another meeting of the Foundation before school is out.  Look for an announcement to that effect and consider attending.  Meetings are open to the public.  Among the ideas currently being considered for the Foundation in the future is possibly replacing the drinking fountains in the school.  Any idea that would serve the children, particularly in the academics, is most welcome.  Any inventive ideas for fund raising would also be appreciated.  Watch for the meeting date or email your idea to Champion @ championnews.us, Attention:  Skyline R2 School Foundation.

        Lannie Hinote has been fishing too.  She takes her camera with her to prove her catches to some competitive fishermen friends.  She has been shepherding students through science at Skyline for a long time and has stirred some exciting successes.  The Douglas County Museum and Historical Society has posted a great picture of the Black Oak Flat School.  The picture was made in 1956, and must have been some time in the winter because the kids were all bundled up.  There were about 25 of them.  That was the last year before the schools were consolidated into Skyline.  It was over in the Boone Township north east of the Crystal Lake Fisheries.  Eighth grade students in 1956 may have had a more thorough education than kids get today.  Perhaps that is true or just that they really had to know how to multiply and divide and find the square root.  Technology has changed things.  Carl Sagan, a great American scientist died seventeen years ago.  He said then that we have arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody knows anything about science and technology.  He said that it is this combustible mixture of ignorance and power that sooner or later will blow up in our faces.  He asked who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about science, or technology, or democracy.  He said science is more than a body of knowledge.  It is a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.  If we are not able to ask skeptical questions of people who tell us what is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up a creek and vulnerable to the next charlatan—political or religious—who comes along.  It is something that Thomas Jefferson placed great stress on.  Jefferson figured that it was not enough that we enshrine some rights in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights; the people had to be educated and to practice their skepticism and their education.  Otherwise we do not run the government.  The government runs us.  Deep Champion thoughts like these may be discussed at will around the round table in the conversation conservatory at the Champion Store.  Check it out.

        Things are burgeoning and blooming and budding on both sides of the wide Atlantic.  It is striking to observe the great similarities in topography and the springing season.  People are planting and are therefore optimistic.  As the deadline has passed, all hope of any news from Vanzant has vanished.  The ‘stringer’ must have misunderstood the nature of the position and has gone fishing.  It is pretty well figured that Wednesday will have a mid-day caucus of cleverness in Champion and the Thursday evening will be potluck and bluegrass in Vanzant.  Friday is bluegrass night in Edinburgh so excitement is building on either end of a 4,134 mile string.  Tune that string to “C” for Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 31, 2014

        It would seem that people have finally worn themselves out with complaining about the weather.  They have whined and moaned since three days before Thanksgiving (according to Elmer) and have just about used up every applicable lament.  They ran out of gripes just in time.  The days are glorious in Champion.

        Raymond and Esther Howard were in town last week.  They live over in Marshfield but get down to Champion on a Sunday every now and then.  Raymond has just bought a new truck.  It is a used truck, but just used by a little old lady to do her grocery shopping since she bought it new in 1999.  It is a hot little Ford and redder than red with some fancy accent painting on the doors and tail gate.  It is pristine and it has a standard transmission and a wild man behind the wheel.  Nineteen or ninety one?  Esther says he is enjoying his ‘toy.’  He delivers Meals on Wheels in his neighborhood and has a chrome plated tool box in the truck bed that works well for the purpose.  Raymond is a good driver and a good neighbor.

        Friends were talking about Neil Schudy the other night.  Miley Schober’s grandmother says that Neil was about the best neighbor a person could have.  He would help you do anything.  If you were broke down in the hay field or had some fence down he was right there to help.  She said that the kids (meaning Miley’s Mom and folks of that generation) all loved Neil.  He was a big kid himself and loved to play tag on the road with the kids on the four wheelers and to ride horses and rope and do all that cowboy stuff.  He particularly liked paint horses and he said that he spent most of his time on a horse and the rest of the time was just wasted.  He and his sweet smile are sorely missed.  The family of Russell Upshaw gathered at Denlow on Sunday to give him a send-off.  Another celebration of his life will happen about April 27^th.  Details have not yet been finalized, but every Vanzant bluegrass jam will be a celebration of Russell and Sue.

    The Wellness Night up at Skyline last week was a great event.  Jenna and Jacob Brixey were romping with their Champion chums being rowdy and noisy and having a wonderful time.  Taegan Krider was right in there with them doing some very exciting activities with parachutes and bouncing balls.  Her Dad said she did not want to leave.  The Skyline students will have Muffins with Mom on April 4^th.  That afternoon at 2:00 they will have the BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) assembly.  On Sunday the 6^th students and their families are being encouraged to wear blue as a way to promote child abuse awareness.  This little school is doing a terrific job of taking care of the future movers and shakers of the area.  You never can tell what these great kids are going to do.  Judson Wall was the Valedictorian of Skyline School in 2001.  He went from one good school to another and is now a respected attorney who has announced his intentions to seek the office of associate circuit judge in Douglas County.  Elizabeth Bock currently holds that office.  She made a big impression at the Skyline VFD Chili Supper visiting and bidding in a big supportive way on silent auction items.  The primary election will be in August, so there will be some time to get acquainted with all the candidates for public office.  How exciting to be part of the electorate!  Champion!  It all gets started in school.  The Dolly Parton Imagination Library gets them ready to read and kindergarten takes over from there.

        “Good, better, best—never let it rest—‘till your good is better and your better is best!”  That is a real Champion notion taught to the esteemed musician, Bobby Nicholson, in 1976, when he was just a lad in another quality little school up in Kircaldy, Scotland.  It is about the size of Skyline in a town about the size of Norwood.  One of Bobbie’s good friends, Morag Edward, will be having her birthday on March 31^st.  There will be music and chocolate and much good merriment.  Meanwhile, back in Champion, Teagan’s year old Blue Healer, Banjo, is going to stock dog school.  He started off being afraid of the sheep and then decided he might like to eat one.  He about has it figured out now and it looks like he is going to be a big help on the farm.

        On the subject of banjos, Linda Clark posted an interesting story on line with pictures.  Her folks live out on 14 Highway and their yard is high up on a steep bank along the side of the road.  Linda’s story had to do with her dad having accidently taken his riding lawnmower on a fast, wild trip down that bank all the way to the highway.  She said that this was when she heard her favorite quote of the day.  Wayne said, “It’s not too bad when you don’t have time to really think about it.”  The next time he comes to Champion perhaps he will share the story as he recalls it.  After last week, it might be advisable to let folks embellish their own stories.  (There was some speculation that one might be getting paid by the word as the tale droned on and on.)

        Champion’s other friend Linda is up at The Plant Place in Norwood busy transplanting tiny plants from her seed starting station into the four-packs of flowers and vegetables that will make Champion gardens lush and lovely this summer.  Gardeners with the time, space and know-how can get seeds started for above the ground crops on the first and second and then on the sixth and seventh of April.  Linda’s Almanac says that the third through the fifth will be barren days.  She says her Cole crops are looking good.  Get a good look at that almanac there at The Plant Place and on the bulletin board at Henson’s Downtown Grocery & Gas and at the very top of the page at www.championnews.us.

        Bonnie Raitt said “Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.” She is an American blues singer-songwriter and slide guitar player.  One of her great songs is “Let’s give them something to talk about.”  Come down to the broad beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek and enjoy the conversations around the stove on these chilly mornings.  You’ll be there with the movers and shakers (whittlers and spitters and yarn spinners) of Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 24, 2014

        Spring has arrived with great fanfare, with warm winds, a dearth of daffodils and the assurance that as seasons change, the heart of Champion remains very much the same.   Part of the sameness is the shared loss of dear friends and neighbors.  Added to that long list now are Neil Schudy and Russell Upshaw.  They welcomed strangers with their friendly smiles and good humor.  With their warm hearts they embraced their precious families with the kind of specialized love that endures long past their own passing–true Champions who never strayed long far from home.

        In recent days Russell was back around the stove in Henson’s Store enjoying the stories and reminiscences of the whittle and spit crowd.  (They don’t really spit in the store.)  With Dean and Dailey by his side, he was present at every major event in Champion—every wagon train, trail ride, jam session or get together of any kind.  He loved the place and the place loved him.  He would have liked what happened the other day.  Almarth’s bard came sauntering in with an arm load of stove wood and about an equal measure of charm.  He said there is nothing colder than an east wind.   He says turkeys will not gobble in an east wind.  And when it comes to fishing he says, “Wind out of the east, fish bite the least.  Out of the west, they bite the best.”  Texas Phyllis would interject her favorite quote here from John Buchanan that fishing is the “perpetual series of occasions for hope.” Phyllis has two pairs of earrings—one in the shape of the great state of Texas and the other a matched set of fishing lures.  Hopes are that she will make it up to the beautiful Ozarks and dip her line in the Bryant.  She can hold her own around the stove as well and would have loved to have been able to put her spin on this yarn as it unfolded Wednesday.  Russell would have liked it too:

        A prominent citizen had a large dead tree next to one of his stock ponds and engaged a neighbor to help take it down.  He wanted it to fall just so, but it was leaning well out over the water and every twig pointed to the probability that the humongous ranking of wood would empty the pond with its enormous splash.  With every drop vital in these dry times and more winter on the way, the judicious farmer knew he was treading a delicate line.  He had clean fresh water and a mountain of fire wood on one hand and on the other– a gurgling quagmire of sucking mud slowly seeping into every fiber of the ancient behemoth oak rendering it useless as well as a great liability.  The plan was set.  The position of the notch and the kerf were discussed, debated and decided upon and at last the big honking, roaring, growling chain went screaming around the bar and into the bark of that big old tree and tore with relentless vengeance into its primordial heart.   It stood.  It stood.  And continued to stand as the smoke filled the air and the saw whined and moaned and droned on and on through centuries of growth.  The farmer’s dear cowered near, safe in the cab of her truck.  She had planned to film the entire the affair but she lost her concentration just at the crucial moment, just as the die was cast, just as the balance was tipped –the wrong way.  Instantly alert to the danger and quick as a wild Ozark panther flash the nimble footed farmer scaled to the highest of the main branches and flung more than the weight of his body—the weight of his very will—against the fulcrum to over edge the tree’s desire just by a feather’s weight.  As it hesitated in its new course the farmer seized the second and lunged to the limb below.  On his way down he grabbed the limb upon which he had been standing and gave it a powerful jerk then let go to land his sure footed might on the limb below.  The force was like that of a dead-fall hammer and the double blows continued and the tree succumbed.  The farmer rode that skyscraper of a tree down like an escalator, stepping off on to his own firm ground with all the panache of a well healed, big time, up-town CEO in high polished Florsheim shoes and a custom made three pieced suit.  The events did not all make it to the video as the farmer’s dear abandoned her desire to record it in favor of relishing the moment live in rapt admiration.  “My hero!” she sighed.  The diameter of the downed tree was just about the same how high as that young lady–something to remember.

        Russell Upshaw was the hero of the Vanzant bluegrass jam.  Folks had gone to Mansfield for a long time to hear and play music, but that venue became unavailable.  Then they took to Plummer’s Junction and had a good go of it there for a while until it changed hands and the new owner did not prove to be a great appreciator of the local music.  About that time the Vanzant community put some good energy into the old school house to make it a meeting place, a party and event center for folks living in the middle of nowhere.   The next thing you know the Vanzant Thursday night pot-luck jam became a tradition there.  It happened because at every step along the way Russell and Sue were there to encourage and make the way open and do what needed to be done so that the music could go on.   Thank you, Russell.    Last Thursday night was a good one with two dobros and all the regulars plus a novice fiddler who sat in for the first time and did a good job with the “Irish Washerwoman” and “Danny Boy.”  The dobros were swinging with “The Rose of San Antone” and then Jerry Wagner did one of those old time pieces that can bring tears to your eyes.  Norris will laugh at you if he catches you crying, but that’s ok.  He smiles most all the time anyway.

        Birthdays bring smiles to young and old alike.  March 27^th Jazmine Baker will have her birthday.  She is a second grader at the Skyline School.  Ted Storie is one of the bus drivers for Skyline and his birthday is that day too.  They are lucky to be affiliated with such a vital school.  Thursday evening they had their “Wellness Night.”  Attendance was good and the wellness coordinator, Joy Beeler, and the rest of the staff made a great presentation.  One of the most impressive parts was a display of a variety of sodas, juices and drinks with a bag under each containing the exact amount of sugar that is in each beverage.  It was an eye opener.  The kids had a wonderful time with the many activities and prizes.  The Missouri Ozarks Community Health Department was well represented and had a great deal of pertinent health information available.  They make a trip to Skyline on the first Tuesday of each month to do blood pressure checks as well as a number of other screenings.  They go to Big Ed’s Store on East 76 on the second Friday of each month.  In both cases they are there from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.  It is a great service for people who live a long way from town.

        Go to the March 10^th post at www.championnews.us to see that exquisite black and white photo of Frances and Wayne Sutherland when their love was new.  Share your tall tales and your love of music and your reminiscences of dear old friends at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or Champion @ championnews.us.  Come down to the wide and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek for a dose of tranquility in one of the world’s beautiful places Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 17, 2014

        On a sunny St. Patrick’s Day a friend says, “May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door.”  Another says, “May you always have walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.”  One of the ancient names for Ireland is “Island of Woods.”  When the Irish and Scots made it over this way from Kentucky and Tennessee way back when, it must have seemed like going home.  Many a glad heart has found its way to Champion since then—some born here and some migrated in from the great elsewhere.  It is a beautiful place to be.

        The Champion News made a Facebook posting of a picture which hangs in the Champion Store of George T. Proctor, Willie Freeman, Manford Smith and Deward Henson made in March of 1978.  Thirty-six years later it brings good memories to friends and family.  Benny Thomas said, “This is a good picture of Champion’s spit and whittle gang of days gone by.”  Vicky Czapla said, “George T. Proctor was my uncle and we sure miss him.”  Jewell Hall Elliott:  “I knew all these fellows and enjoyed drinking pop on the porch of the store when we went there to play softball a few years ago–fun times.”  Kim Linder Kelley loves the picture of her Granddad and all his buddies and has it hanging on her wall.  Jessica Puangnak-Glossip said, “Seems like forever since I have seen my Uncle Manford.  Great picture!”  From time to time a new old picture will appear on the wall in the Historic Emporium so that the trip for a loaf of bread, some bacon or calf starter or fencing staples and plumbing supplies turns into a nice nostalgic sojourn.  That is particularly true on a Wednesday in the late morning when the story tellers settle in and start to jaw.  It is well worth the trip.

        Elva Upshaw will have her birthday on March 23^rd.  The big news in her life is not her birthday, but her engagement.  David Brott is the lucky man.  They are often seen together and those smiles of young love are infectious.  Old people married forty or fifty years remember that smile and put it on again when they see this happy couple.  They smile for the joy of having a loving partner through life’s uneven journeys.  As to unevenness, David has his work cut out for him.  Of course, he will have the most adorable mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law that a man could ask for, but then there is The General.  To his credit, he has not only not alienated his first son-in-law, but has stepped up to be a rousing good Grandpa, unlike his foray into meteorology.  Say what you will about him, he is a curious fellow.  As the subject of the shivaree has been being bandied about, a close eye will be kept upon the father of the bride.

        Troy Powell was a Champion.  He was born March 26, 1926, and passed away on his birthday in 2001.  He moved up to this part of the country from down around Bertha when he was about sixteen.  He farmed and raised a family and drove a school bus for many years.  He knew everyone and had a friendly welcoming personality.  Gospel music was his favorite.  He liked “Paradise Valley.”  “As I travel through life with its trouble and strive I’ve a glorious hope to give cheer on the way.  Soon my toil will be o’er and I’ll rest on that shore where the night has been turned into day.”

        That lovely Jigsaw Puzzle quilt from the Skyline VFD Chili Supper was won by Betty Geidd of Mansfield.  She bought her ticket at the Old Biddies Third Thursday Bridge Club meeting at the Community Center in Mansfield.  She will take possession of it at that meeting on the 27^th of March and is most excited to do so.  Betty grew up in Vermont and this time of the year reminds her of home.  It is “the season of mud,” she calls it.  She and her husband are retired and live down a long dirt driveway to the pavement.  He likes to do the driving and hopes are that she will have no trouble getting to her game, though she admits we really need the rain.  So congratulations Ms. Geidd!  Thanks for supporting the great Skyline VFD.

        On the way into Ava from Champion on Highway 14 is a curious construction.  It is just west of County Road 313 on the North side of the road.  It looks for all the world like a staircase going pretty much straight up the steep bank.  Over the years, driving by, there was always the temptation to stop and climb it to see just where it goes and to discover what mystery it hides.  There is a good size cave right beside it with mysteries of its own, but the staircase seemed to have a secret exposed to the sun but still unknown.  There is no shoulder on the road there which makes stopping to investigate difficult and chores in town or at home always took president over the exploration.  Glimpsed from the road, the risers on the stairs seemed unusually high.  There must have been a giant who lived up there looking down on a peaceful valley with a pretty stream running through it.  A visit with Alvie Dooms last week solved the mystery.  He said that when the road was paved in the 1950’s the road’s crew built that staircase as a water handling device.  Now days they would pour concrete in a trough configuration to move the rain water down the hill into a ditch or through a tin horn under the road, but the technology of the time together with the availability of so much stone produced this interesting structure.  Now one is thinking to head that way in a rain to see if it is still handling water and if that water comes down in a cascade.

        The reports of the square dance at Marriott Music in Ava came with a video of dance lessons where Bill Connelly was featured together with a couple of other dancing dudes and a number of young people who were learning the steps and where to go when.  It was most entertaining.  The music was provided by David Scrivner, Alvie Dooms and Nathan McAlister.  There is a hint that another dance will be coming up there in the near future.  There is an idea that an Arts Festival might be in the works for the end of May.  Champions will be looking forward to some Spring excitement.  Meanwhile, the Thursday night pot-luck jam session at Vanzant will carry music lovers along and keep toes tapping.  The pot luck is at 6 and the music goes round and round.

        A full moon on a clean fresh snow was a sight not to have missed.  It may have been the last time for such a glorious vision in this beautiful valley until winter is new again.  Share visions, explain mysteries, share music, tell tall tales and remember old times and old friends at Champion @ championnews.us or down the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  Look in on www.championnews.us if you are too busy planting potatoes to get down to Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—March 10, 2014

        It was a little damp, a little cool, a little muddy and it was a lot of fun to get together with friends and neighbors at the Skyline VFD Chili Supper on Saturday night.  The food was excellent with loads of wonderful pies.  The music was superb.  Whetstone kicked off the evening rocking the place ‘like a southbound train.‘  Then came Flatline with some great gospel music.  “There is Coming a Day” is one of Louise Hutchison’s favorite songs.  She and Wilburn were not able to be there, but they were much in the thoughts of many who remembered how much energy they have devoted to the fire department over the years.  Backyard Bluegrass’s D.J. Shumate fiddled the crowd out with a train song that included the whistle and steam coming off his bow.  He learned that from his Pa.  It was a delightful evening when old and new friends had the chance to catch up and get acquainted.  The place was loaded with dignitaries, and celebrities.  A most clever bluebird house came along with another of Tim Scrivner’s excellent bird feeders and the accusation of deviousness on the part of The Champion News.  Bidding was hot for a huge Ethan Allen basket between a Douglas County official and a prominent Wright County musician.  The winner was the Skyline VFD!  It is a joy to see people come together to support such a vital organization.  Champions all!

        Six year old birthday Bailey out in Portland had a pink heart shaped cake decorated with raspberries…almost as pretty as the girl herself.  Kay Dennis over in Ava most likely had a glorious birthday as well celebrating with friends and music and optimism that her health insurance will indeed get less expensive next year when she reaches that magic Medicare age.  Old friends will look forward to seeing her at the 40^th Back to the Land Reunion this summer.  The 12^th will have some special distinction celebrated with a “yahrzeit” candle.  It is a tradition that burning this special 26 hour candle on the birthday of a departed loved one is a warm way to acknowledge his life, disregarding the sadness.  Some people burn this candle on the day the loved one died, but others think to celebrate the life is somehow more positive.  Jacob Masters will be 11 years old on March 15^th.  He lives in Austin, Texas and is reported to be ‘a hand-full’ by his old grandpa who lives out in West Texas with the rattlesnakes and armadillos where he is very much in his element.  One of the best things Jake has going for him, apart from his older brother Jack, is that he shares his birthday with his Uncle Sam who is thirty years his senior and exemplifies a conscious and well lived life.  They do not know each other, but they have lots of time.  Ursula of Edinburgh celebrates that day too.  She will soon have her own child for whom she can make birthday parties.  Congratulations!  March 16^th is a special day for Elizabeth Mastrangelo Brown.  She was 23 in 2013.  She is not seen as often as her Champion friends would like, but she is sure to have a great day.  The 16^th is also Helen Batten’s birthday.  She is the secretary at our great Skyline RII School.  She is forever young.  She just cannot help it.  Her smile and good humor meet all our one hundred kindergarten through eighth grade students every morning and gets them started on another great day—teachers and staff too.  Happy Birthday Ms. Helen!  Then Myla Sarginson has her birthday on March 18^th.  She is in the 2^nd grade.  Kayelyn Souder is in the 8^th grade and has her birthday the next day.  Snow and ice make-up days may keep the kids in school way into May.  Grandparents will be hankering for their racket and their raids on the cookie jar.  Those Skyline Volunteer Fire-Fighters by the name of Cochran were carrying a picture of RyAnne Daniel Harvey, their first granddaughter who was born on March 3^rd.  She weighed nine pounds and six ounces and is a beautiful child.  Just ask her grandmother.  Future veterinarian Candice will most likely be spending the summer with her Wilbanks grandparents.  She will be helping her grandpa out with his injured mule.  Ah summer!  It will be here just after Spring.

Frances and Wayne Sutherland

        Last week Wayne and Frances Sutherland marked their 64^th wedding anniversary.  It was revealed by their daughter, Laine, who posted on line, “Happy Anniversary to my parents, Wayne & Frances Cooley Sutherland, who drove to Mountain Home, Arkansas, 64 years ago and got married.“  It was March 4^th.  They were and are a handsome couple.  Look for their picture in their heyday in Champion Snapshots (Frances & Wayne) at www.championnews.us.  Laine was seen at the Skyline Chili Supper keeping company with old time fiddler Bill Connolly.  Old time refers to the music not to Bill.  He likes the old music and likes to square dance.  He says that there is going to be an especially good one on Saturday the 15^th in Ava at Marriott Music on the North Side of the Square.  The dance will start at 7 p.m., and what makes it special is that David Scrivner, Alvie Dooms, and Junior Marriott will be making the music—fiddle, guitar and bass respectively.  Bill will be dancing.

        Certain stretches of road will still have a little ice and snow long after everything else has melted.  As the naked ladies (surprise lilies), crocus, hyacinths, and the glorious daffodils emerge, hearts are lightened altogether at the prospect of true spring.  There will still be cold mornings and chilly evenings that will satisfy the need of some to grouch about something.  Old hearth tenders say this is the hardest time of the year to stay warm.  “If you build a big enough fire to get warm in the morning, by mid-day you’re sweltering.”  Long suffering spouses point him to Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood.  The 12^th to the 16^th will be a barren period—a good time to get the garden tools and equipment in shape or to haul some manure.  St. Patrick’s Day will be ideal for planting potatoes, sowing fodder crops or hay.  Linda already has her Cole crops transplanted and she said the little marigolds are up and looking good.  Find her Almanac on line, on the bulletin board at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Champion or on the counter at The Plant Place up in Norwood.  Thanks, Linda!

        The Edinburgh Evening News reports are that the city hopes to change the appearance of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations there to a ‘less boozy’ image.  Toward that end they post a picture of half a dozen comely lasses in full fling, dancing a jig.  The Scots Irish heritage of this part of the world shows up in the Wednesday morning tall tales confab in the chat room of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  On Saturday night The General was heard plotting a competition with the accomplished Almartha story teller.  He says he does not want the “Ferlie” (Champion’s “Oscar”), just the attention!  So far the only suggestion for the Ferlie Awards program for next year is the addition of a category for “The most abstruse in the written or spoken word.”  The notion that making something intentionally and unnecessarily difficult to understand might be entertaining is a caution to him and has escaped this distant reader.  Send examples of this sort of amusing confusion to The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion @ championnews.us.  Come down to the broad wooly banks of Old Fox Creek on Wednesday morning or any time with your blarney and join the fun.  Sing “My Wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows!” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!