February 1, 2016
CHAMPION—February 1, 2016
A walk in the woods…
Seventy degrees on the last day of January seems a little unusual, but the new norm for weather the world over now seems to be ‘unusual.’ Daffodils are beginning to emerge, as well as some surprise lilies and the flowering quince is making tiny globes among the brush that will, before long, burst out into brilliant color. Meanwhile it was a chance to open the windows and air out the house. Gardens are calling. Some folks have little seedlings of various kinds up already and are thinking about getting peppers started. The swift passage of time is on everyone’s mind and in Champion it is tempered with gratitude for another day and awe for the amazing present. Want-to-be Champion, Melissa Masters, posts on the internet, “Happy last day of January. Only 48 days until Spring!”
Zack Alexander lives up in Springfield, but he has Champion grandparents and is often in the neighborhood. His birthday is February 1st. Mr. Cooley celebrates that day as well and has been doing so since 1940. Ground Hog Day gets its own celebration but is also enjoyed by a number of fine folks as a birthday. They include Judy Sharon Parsons, Charlene Dupre, Angie Heffern, Connie Grand, and Irish Poet and novelist James Joyce, who was born in 1882.
Rebecca Turcott made her way to Champion again on the last Tuesday of the month. She works for the Douglas County Health Department and does free blood pressure screenings for people from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square. Her next visit will be February 23rd. Cowboy Jack was one of a number of individuals who took advantage of this excellent community service. Rebecca is also an appreciator of horses and she was overheard confirming that they like the same farrier. The Cowboy just has two horses these days and that is enough for him. In the process of dumping a big wheelbarrow load of that good garden additive that horses make, he caught his heel on a rock that has been in his way for decades and took a flying trip down hard flat of his back. He said he fell harder than he did when he fell in the creek on Bud Hutchison’s trail ride a few years ago. It knocked the wind right out of him. He was glad no one was there to see him lying on the ground looking up at the stars twirling around in his vision. It would have been embarrassing. He was about over it and was there at the store thinking about his wife’s birthday that day. He said that Joyce plans to retire exactly a year from the day. It will be nice for the Cowboy to have someone looking after him full time. They will be having fun. A neighbor asked him if he frequents the Wednesday gathering. He said that he does but he tries to get out of there before ‘it gets crowded.’ Indeed there were reports of a packed house on Wednesday with many of the regular visitors, some infrequent ones and a few new ones. Some of the same shenanigans were being pulled and the good natured regulars are, so far, still willing to sit through them even with the metaphorical aroma of old fish. When you lose once sense, others are enhanced, they say. When you lose your sense of humor, your sense of self-importance seems to be enhanced. Good humor is endemic in Champion.
Saturday morning was warm and glorious, a perfect day for an adventure. A group being called The Facebook Ladies made an expansive tour of Champion. They are mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. Shirley Crouch, Carol Barton and Stacie Sperlazza, from Houston, Missouri, met up with Cindy Phillips and Jane Means, of Springfield to see for themselves the place they had discovered on the internet. They posed for pictures, remarked about the bee tree and the flood debris so high up in the trees along the creek. They seemed satisfied with the look of the place. They headed into the store to visit for a spell and to get some Champion post cards to be able to prove to the folks back home that there truly is a beautiful place on Bright Side!
Tuesday, February 9th, the Skyline VFD Auxiliary will meet at Henson’s Grocery and Gas at 6:30 in the evening for another planning session for the upcoming Chili Supper, which will be on the 12th of March this year. Everyone is welcome to come and take part in the process of getting good community support for the wonderful little rural volunteer fire department that is here to protect our property and to save our lives when necessary. All the volunteer firefighters are trained in CPR and First Responder skills. They are often first on the scene for auto accidents and for home health emergencies. The annual chili supper is a chance to acknowledge these volunteers for their sacrifices and good works. David Richardson has agreed to play again and to round up some other good music for the evening. David is a friend to every good cause in the area. Someone called him the other day and he could not talk because he was busy unloading a mule. When asked about it later it turned out to be one of those Kawasaki kinds of mules. He often joins the Vanzant Bluegrass Jam on Thursdays. A pot luck dinner gets on the table about six and then the music starts. It is a welcoming bunch. One of these days Foster Wiseman will be playing over there with his great uncle Fastpitch. He played Doyle Lawson’s “Little Country Church” for his mandolin recital and did a bang-up job.
A note comes from Jeanne Curtis saying, “Skyline School would like to invite District Patrons to come out to an open forum to learn about the proposed tax levy increase. The Board has placed on the April Ballot a tax levy increase from $2.95 to $3.43 (state required minimum). The Board and administration will discuss the need for the increase and how much funds the increase would generate for the District. After a short presentation the Board and Administration will field questions from patrons. For more information contact Superintendent Jeanne Curtis at 417-683-4874.” The forum will be held at the school at 7:00 p.m on February 11th.
While shoveling that good soil additive that the horses make, one was left pondering ALEC. She asked Lem and Ned who had come to chore for her if they knew anything about it. Regular readers of The Champion News will recall these fellows show up from time to time to help out around the place. Lem does not have much to say, but Ned is what Festus Haggen might ‘category’ as plum ‘jabberty’ and a mite ‘eruditious.’ Ned leaned on his shovel handle, looked up at the blue sky and commenced, “ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a pay-to-play club with secret meetings where corporate lobbyists and state legislators write ‘model bills’ that change our rights in ways that often benefit the corporations’ bottom line at public expense. Participating legislators bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. Now that is what I call a real load of first-rate soil additive!” Lem and Ned have been pleased that the winter has been so mild that a sweet turnip can still be unearthed. Ned reminds us that an important election is coming up on the Ides of March. Educators in all the local high schools say that they have programs in place to encourage seniors who are turning 18 this year to register to vote. There is a responsibility to being a citizen, even for rusty ankled hillbilly boys. Lem likes Roy Acuff and can be heard singing “Way back in the hills as a boy I once wandered…” in Champion– Looking on the Bright Side!
The way home…
