Champion News

CHAMPION—January 4, 2016

Looking East across Fox Creek from Champion

        Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures helped Champions get a good start on the New Year.  By Sunday Clever Creek was crossable by intrepid travelers though it has taken a week for them to build their courage while the water slowly receded.  On Monday last it was reported that the milk hauler who picked up at the Krider farm felt some serious movement of his rig while passing through the Clever on his way to the Brixey farm.  There are tales of harrowing escapes and mishaps floating around.  They will come to rest around the tables in the meeting room at the Historic Emporium where some will be believed and some taken with a grain of salt.

        Holiday visitors have made a safe return to their home places and Champion friends and family are relieved for the good news.  The open road is a dangerous place even in good weather.  Now the little alertness ‘until they call’ can be replaced with the good memories left behind.  The Tennessee bunch was in town for Christmas and was joined by a mob of cousins, aunts and uncles, grand-people, in-laws, and friends for several days of Champion country fun.  A dear niece and nephew, world travelers, epicureans, enthusiastic laborers, sterling story tellers and conversationalists came home to the farm bringing mandolins and fiddles.  They played their own and tuned and played every other instrument in the house and kept the place jumping with heartening melodies and rhythms and some somber strains as sad news came of deep loss at this otherwise joyful time of year.  The holidays include a space for acknowledging the absence of loved ones with whom we have celebrated in the past.  Memory condenses and softens past moments for us in a way that makes those bygone days seem ideal.  Looking ahead with that same idealism is a Champion goal.

Frankie Catahoula

        Frankie is a Catahoula Leopard Dog, but happens to be all black except for her blue eyes and big brown mottled feet.  She was born in October and is in full sweet puppyhood.  It is clear she will be a keen watchdog.  The breed is said to be ‘a serious working dog who thrives on vigorous exercise and goes about his business with tremendous focus and assertiveness.’  Her people rub her tummy and coo, “You are our big hog killin swamp dog, aren’t you?  Yes, you are!”  On her first trip to Champion Frankie learned to climb steps and eventually how to go down them again.  She has a fuzzy hedgehog with a squeaker inside that she torments fiercely.  Her Champion hosts welcome her and her people back any time.  The bright yellow truck that goes out hunting for Tank, the 80 pound boxer, was seen cruising the roads on Sunday.  It follows that Tank is out on a lark.  Bon adventure!

        Garden catalogues have begun to choke the mail-boxes again.  (Thank you, Karen Ross and your stalwart substitutes, for keeping us connected to the rest of the world via the wonderful USPS.)  The mild weather up to now has provided ample time to clear the garden of last year’s debris and start the process of building the soil for spring planting.  Old Champions who have been diverted from gardening and onto other projects will be running behind.  Their already diminished productivity combined with the exaggerated expectations of a youthful person stuck in an aging carcass might have them set up for disappointment.  Champions, however, live one day at a time and do the best they can every day.  Back in the early 1950s Joe ”Red” Hayes and Jack Rhodes got together to write a song that was inspired by things that Joe’s mother said over the years.  “Money can’t buy back your youth when you’re old or a friend when you’re lonely or a love that’s grown cold.  The wealthiest person is a pauper at times compared to the man with a satisfied mind.”  In the cold days to come Champions will peruse their colorful catalogues and sit around the fire, satisfied that all is as it should be.  They know that no amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future.

        School is back in session and the youngsters will have stories to tell and may take a little while to get back into the swing of their role as students.  Lannie Hinote came home for Christmas and was all over the internet having a good time.  She is back in the classroom in Alaska now and recharged for another term.  After this good break, Skyline students will be ready to apply themselves to the important job of learning.  Good citizens are being made in our beautiful little rural school.  They are learning valuable lessons and hopes are they will be exposed to a journalist named Charles M. Blow, who said “One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm.  The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”

        By Thursday at the resumption of the Vanzant Bluegrass Jam things ought to have settled down to a normal routine again.  The potluck there at 6:00 is always a fine spread.  If you don’t want to or cannot contribute to the meal, there is a donation box that will let you eat guilt free.  Everyone is welcome and welcome to bring your instruments and your singing voice, or just your appreciation of a musical get together.  The party breaks up at nine in the evening so farmers can get up in the morning to do their chores.

        The last Wednesday gathering in the cozy meeting room at Henson’s Downtown G & G is reported to have been well attended, if not very well.  Most of those present had taken a long way around to get there and some could not get there at all.  Alas!  It was said that The General appeared, but for lack of media attention, he did not bring out his specialized, hand crafted, antique weapon for perusal.  Perhaps next Wednesday will find him less reticent.  Those absent last time can catch up next time.  Ms. McCleary may well be there with details of her birthday extravaganza.  The actual date is January 4th, but the party has probably been going on for some while now.  The first Wednesday meeting of the New Year may have some prognostications for the year ahead.  The Champion News will endeavor to record for posterity the far reaching thoughts of this stable of sages.  Communicate directly with TCN at champion@championnews.us or at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Any news of interest to the community: i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, poetry, music appreciation, and encouragement of any kind is welcome.  Those things are welcome in person down on the debris strewn banks of Auld Fox Creek.  Some northern hay bale has come apart and has come to rest in tuffs in the notches of every bush and shrub and tree up to and above higher than any Champion can reach.  It is a sight in itself and explains the ‘wooly’ banks.  Check it out at the bottom of several hills where the pavement ends in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!