Champion News

CHAMPION—July 18, 2011

        Summertime in Champion is easy as Champions walk about under leafy boughs conducting their business from shade to shade.  The gentle quietitude reflects the liberal distribution of harmonious sentiment.  The unexpected stirring of a breeze is as a gift that plays itself out in contented smiles on the faces of relaxed Champions.  “How are you today?” inquires one of another just arriving.  “Oh, tolerably well,” she replies.  He asks, “What are you up to?”  She says, “I thought I would sit a spell over in the Loafing Shed and then do a little shopping.”  “Well,” says he, “if it is shopping you are interested in, just step on into the Temporary Annex of the Historic Emporium over there on the West Side of the Square.  You’ll not be disappointed!”

        Favorite Champion, Louise Hutchison, is home from her stay in the hospital and is doing well.  She says that she and Wilburn stay busy taking care of each other.  She has had many visitors, phone calls and has received many get-well cards.  Louise is such a vital, productive person that it will likely be a chore for her to slow down though she may not have much choice.  The Skyline Auxiliary had a meeting over in the Loafing Shed last Monday evening and talked a good deal about Louise and the central role she has always played in the Fire Department activities.  Plans and ideas for the Annual Picnic were the subject of much of the conversation.  Louise will be in an advisory position this year and it is sure to be another excellent picnic even with much of the workload redistributed.  A good picture of Esther with the Picnic Quilt was taken at the meeting and may be in the paper, certainly a nice color version can be seen at www.championnews.us, as well as on the refrigerator inside Henson’s Store, where tickets are available.  One Champion is giving tickets for this quilt as a wedding present to a distant nephew who will be married August 23^rd.  It is a gamble, certainly, but the young couple has already determined that, apart from their affection for each other, there are few ‘sure things.’  This quilt is a real beauty, though, and they will be lucky to win it for sure.

        Government regulations require that a ramp built to accommodate the Americans With Disabilities Act not be an eyesore to neighbors.  It is not only Not an eyesore, but quite an attractive little addition to the already beautiful Recreation.  Everything is up to date in Champion, and the ubiquitous loitering onlookers have not proven themselves to be much of an hindrance to progress as they come and go, though it is unknown just how much more could get done without their presence.  They are Champions, after all, much interested and full of the zeal that provokes accomplishment.  No one is critical, because it is just so…so dad blamed pretty!

        Towns named Champion in Texas, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Ohio are interesting and diverse places.  It turns out that Champion, Pennsylvania is in the southwestern part of that state and at the 2010 census had a population 981.  It seems that the largest employer in the area is the Seven Springs Resort.  It is a ski resort and a convention, event center where elegant weddings and reunions are held.  The schools in Champion, Pa have about 17 students per teacher.  That actually sounds pretty good, nationwide.  Champion, Missouri, deep in the heart of Booger County, also has a favorable teacher/student ratio and some elegant facilities for reunions and weddings and while the topography is certainly steep enough to ski, Champions are pleased not to have so much snow annually to accommodate the practice.  Just a few short months ago it was quite cold around this part of the world.  Champions were reminded that it also gets very cold in Afghanistan where so many American service people are stationed currently.  It gets hot there too, and while many are suffering from the heat here, the stresses and dangers that those serving are experiencing are much more intense.  Champions extend their best wishes for their safe return.  They have the Love and the Gratitude of the Nation due them.

        A big time Kansas City journalist and writer of books has a country home over in Champion South and had occasion to spend a week-end there recently.  The retreat is a short walk down a wooded path from his brother’s home and it provides solitude and comfort for a busy mind.  The first night of his stay, he settled in ready for some rest, when he discovered that a coyote (maybe) had settled in to den up under his house.  While he never caught a glimpse of his guest, it was clear that the animal felt intruded upon and behaved in an aggressive complaining manner all through the night.  The spare room at his brother’s house sheltered him the next night and the story leaked out all the way to the Douglas County Herald.

        An advertisement for the Du Pont Company in the National Geographic Magazine says that the world’s population will grow by 150,000 people daily for the next forty years.  Then it goes on to emphasize how the company is working to find ways to provide everyone with enough safe, nutritious food in collaboration with growers, governments and other companies around the world.  Champion gardeners are particularly partial to some old heirloom varieties of their favorite vegetables—squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers.  A number are experimenting with saving their own seeds from year to year and it is the heirloom plants that can be relied on from year to year to reproduce themselves faithfully.  While hybrid varieties often produce specialized traits and have claims for disease and pest resistance, they cannot be trusted for true replication of themselves the next year, and indeed, may not even produce viable seed.  There is good information available these days on saving seed and conservative Champions are investigating.  Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that root crops can be planted on the 24^th and the 25^th and again on the 28^th and 29^th.  Some Champion housewives are getting the fall turnips in the ground with the hopes that Lem and Ned will be by for a few days this fall.

        A nice chat with Esther, a Champion in residence at Vanzant, revealed several interesting things.  First, her friend Brenda, gave her a picture of the bear up in the sweet gum tree that had traffic stopped on 95 Highway back on the 8^th of July.  She is going to share it around.  Randy and Linda Mallernee stopped in for a visit with her on Saturday.  They were taking some little Oklahoma friends out on a sight seeing tour and dropped in on Esther.  She reported that her son, Larry Wrinkles, and his wife Teresa have just had their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary.  “We’ll sing of the old and we’ll sing of the new.  We’ll sing of the changes in years.  I can’t tell a lie.  Last night we had pie, for the first time in twenty-four years!”  That is an old song that does not apply to Esther’s family and friends.  Years ago the Kelley’s gave Esther the sign that she has up on the wall in her dining room:  “Pie Fixes Everything.”  Champion!  Send the songs that apply to you and your family and friends to Champion News or to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Sing of the old and of the new right out loud while touring the sites in glorious Downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!