December 7, 2009
CHAMPION—December 7, 2009
As the days continue to get shorter in Champion the nights are getting longer. Farmers are busy getting as many of their chores done before dark as they can and are doing the rest after dark in the cold wind and drizzle. They are farmers because they love the life and these Champions are fortunate to live close to the Earth, aware of the seasons and the swiftness of time. Those long summer days are just around the corner.
Whatever reasons Champions have for being out on the roads they are aware of the need to be safe drivers. Twisty windy mountain roads with beautiful views around every sharp turn and just over every steep little hill that the two narrow lanes with no shoulders traverse are the only way to get from Champion to anywhere. Familiarity with the scenic byways and thoughts wandering to destinations in advance can make Champions vulnerable to the recklessness of others. One particular driver in a beige sedan has been seen on local pavement speeding and passing other vehicles and school buses in no passing zones, on hills and blind curves. More than one Champion has had a close call and everyone is cautioned to be more alert. It hardly matters how well a person can handle his own vehicle and how considerate he may be, if the oncoming traffic is erratic and unsafe. So far no one has been able to get the license number of this offensive individual, but Champions are on the lookout knowing that forewarned is forearmed.
Champion is not really the halfway point between Iowa and Oklahoma, but some are treating it that way. Louise and Wilburn have been back and forth to Oklahoma City and have been hosting guests from Iowa on their way to other places. Thanksgiving saw another fabulous feast come out of Louise’s kitchen. No one leaves her table unsatisfied. She had the good news to report that one of her Champion neighbors has donated seven fat hens to the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department to be used for chicken and noodles at the Skyline Chili Supper on the 6th of March! These are homegrown, healthy, wholesome hens—just right for a great community supper. Music is already being lined up and some great things are showing up for the silent auction. It is going to be another smashing affair! The Ladies Auxiliary will be getting together on Groundhog Day to get things going. What a social whirlwind is Champion!
Teddy Roosevelt’s image adorns the masthead of the Organization for Competitive Markets together with the words “Honesty, Prosperity, Economic Liberty.” This comes to mind concerning those seven fat healthy hens, homegrown and wholesome. How fortunate is the Champion with a freezer full of good homegrown food and a pantry full of mason jars of tomatoes, green beans and pickles. Most of all the food in the grocery stores comes through a very few large multinational companies: Tyson, Cargill, Swift, National Farmers, the Archer Daniel Midland Corporation and a few others. They serve a purpose and do a good job of making everything available everywhere. Still the opportunity to support local food sources, the gardeners and growers that keep the local farmer’s markets going, are not lost on Champions. Teddy Roosevelt would probably have been right at home in Champion, the old Rough Rider.
An article in a national newspaper indicates that soldiers are being less likely to be open with mental health workers about their war experiences, as they are required to sign the waiver that states that the information is not privileged if it reveals bad acts. The whole nature of war is ‘bad acts.’ If the soldiers cannot unburden themselves of the horrors they experienced, will they be able to resume a normal life at home again? War changes everything and probably resuming a ‘normal’ life is a moot point, but these thousands of U.S. Service personnel are doing what their Nation has required of them. A cousin was remarking the other day that back in World War II everyone participated. Children brought newsprint to school one day, used cooking grease another day, and other things on other days all to support the war effort. Women spent spare moments knitting socks and gloves for soldiers. Scrap drives and rationing of all kinds of materials were common. These current conflicts, however, are being borne primarily by the military and their families alone. The civilian population can easily enough go through a day with hardly a reminder that these conflicts are claiming American lives. Champions all over the Country will step up to listen when the soldiers need to talk. On Pearl Harbor Day and every day let those returning be met with the Love and Gratitude they have coming.
A charming Champion will celebrate a birthday on the tenth of the month. She shares this anniversary with Morton Gould, prolific composer, Emily Dickinson, poet, Anton Mauve, Dutch painter, Chet Huntley, newscaster, and they are all in her good company. This Champion is a geranium cultivator, par excellence! She has appropriated one called “Happy Thought” to be the Champion Flower–the town flower, like the State bird, the bluebird; the State instrument, the fiddle; the State tree, the dogwood, etc. About the Champion Geranium she says, “It has ruffled leaves, dark green around the edges with a splash of yellow in the middle. It is a ‘zonal’ not a scented geranium with a very pretty single pink flower.” Champions will be looking for it in the Spring!
Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that December’s is called The Cold Moon. The December birthstone is turquoise and the flower of the month is the Paper white. These colder days give gardeners the time to review their successes or failures and to start planning now for next year’s garden. Food and flowers make a nice mix for any garden. “There is a bluebird on your windowsill. There is a rainbow in your sky. There are happy thoughts your heart to fill, near enough to make you cry. And if perchance your heart grows sad, you still can smile again, and with every tear you’ve ever had comes the sunshine after the rain. There is a bluebird on your windowsill.” So sang Doris Day.
Share happy thoughts about a gray day at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion. The place has recovered nicely from the Black Friday frenzy and still the ice cream sells. Winter or summer, people just like it. Flowery descriptions of anything Champion are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO. 65717 or at Champion News Look in at www.championnews.us to find Linda’s Almanac or to find out about your favorite Champions. (Go to the ‘Search’ box down at the bottom of the archives.) They are there somewhere. Champions! Looking on the Bright Side.
