Champion News

CHAMPION—November 4, 2007

        The bad colds that have been going around the country have found their way into Champion.  It’s a drag.  People who have coughed so hard that their ribs are sore are now having to put up with friends and family trying to tickle their funny bones.  Never was there a more convivial or jolly place with a kinderhearted population, until now.  Compassion, which is the very foundation of the community, has given way to rude jest and to a ‘bump and grind band’ singing, “I want a bottle of NyQuil…badum badum badum (imagine some hard driving base and drums here.)…..for that restful sleep my Body needs……….ba daba da bump….an anal-gsic  de-congest-tant……with an anti-hist-amine!  ba daba da dum pa dum bump.”  It’s the kind of tune that brings to mind smoky rooms and general bad behavior.  There are no such places in Champion and the music, while beguiling and full of good message, is unseemly.

        He has been having a hard time since Friday and everybody who wants him to feel much better about everything can bake him a chocolate cake.  This is a good receipt for  A Very Chocolate Cake.  Grease with butter a 13”x 9’ pan or two smaller pans.  Combine and beat well the following ingredients:  2 cups sugar, 1 cup oil, 2 eggs, 1 cup strong coffee, 1 cup milk (scant), 2 cups flour (rounded) 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt and 1 cup cocoa.  The batter will be thin.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Test it with a toothpick and don’t over bake it.  Cool the cake completely before frosting.  This fudge frosting is just wonderful.  For an 8” x 8” cake…double the batch for a 13” by 9” cake.  Do not make more than a double batch.  A quarter of a cup of butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa (or more) a quarter of a cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla (Optional:  Cayenne to taste—starting with ½ teaspoon.)  Put all but the vanilla in a heavy pan.  Stir constantly, bringing to a boil over medium heat.  Continue to cook for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla.  Beat until cool and thick enough to spread.  If too thick, warm it.  This makes a wonderful cake.  Wayne is a wonderful Grandpa……Happy Birthday!

        There is a Champion who is worried about the bees.  He says that there are many fewer bees these days and that if they continue to decline in population we will all have some trouble.  He’s thinking about the squash, peppers, tomatoes, okra, and broccoli.  He is also worried about the apples, peaches, pears and plums and the whole thing about pollination.  As it turns out, bees are a very self sacrificing species.  If one of them gets seriously sick she leaves the hive and doesn’t come back, so as not to contaminate her family.  The Champion has heard that there is a virus among bees that is kind of like the HIV virus in people, that is not so bad in itself, but is a factor that lowers immunity.  Any little old bad cold or other issue can attack an organism with a compromised immune system with serious effect.  So, many bees are getting sick and going elsewhere to die.  Even more scary is that this virus effecting the bees is kind of like Alzheimer’s disease in people in that it causes the bees to forget where home is.  So even the healthy bees go off to get nectar for honey and forget how to get home.  That is a very unusual situation for bees.  Honey is life for the bee hive and certainly a staple among people, but the real threat, as this Champion tells it, is that most all crops that supply food for people are dependant upon bees for pollination and thus food production.  Champions love the past, but they know they can’t live there.  Somebody watching Dr. Oz on the Oprah show the other day learned that if a person licks his lips and then inhales slowly, he can reduce his stress level significantly.  Champions are lucky to have day time TV.

        Eulalia Jasmin is becoming a regular contributor to the Champion Items.  She dropped a note indicating that she was pleased to see pictures of the dance contest winners of the Douglas County Sesquicentennial Celebration Grand Ball in the paper, but she is still dissatisfied at not getting a view of the dancers actually sailing around the floor and is wanting some description of the music and the flowers and the refreshments.  Ms. Jasmin says, “I’ll just get over it.”  She also is aware that many participants in the celebration are still awaiting some kind of acknowledgement from the Ava Chamber of Commerce.  Ah yes!  They were very solicitous beforehand, but now that it is over, a simple “Thank you” does not seem forthcoming.  Well, all those demonstrators, marchers, and other participants just need to keep in mind that it took 150 years to make this celebration happen to begin with and if the organizers have not yet seen the need for expressing their gratitude for the generous participation of the populace, perhaps they will before the bicentennial.  “Get over it,”  she says.

        Another welcome correspondent to the Champion Items is Darrell Haden who wrote to express his pleasure with the excerpting from the Cobbler book.  He also took time to clarify the identification of Cobbler witness Howard Bailey’s grandfather.  “ He was Dr. Daniel T. Bailey, pioneer physician practicing at Rome early last century in Douglas County’s Campbell Township.”  He said, “I may have confused the viniculturist for the physician because Daniel was the given name of each and both men lived in or near Rome.”  He also referred to another item about the late Everett and Amanda Porter’s granddaughter Nola Jean Schuenemann.  Both Nola Jean and Sybil play piano well.  Of course, it was Sybil with her brother, former Champion teacher Arthur, who with their father Everett were famous in gospel music circles for their all but patented rendition of “Old Daniel Prayed.”  It was their version of the song that could cause the hair on the listener’s neck to stand up and cheer!”

        All Champions are urged to refer to page B-Two of the November 1^st, 2007 issue of the Herald, just to the left of the Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave excerpt to see the wonderful photograph of Sybil Porter Gheer and her daughter Noaljean Moyer.  This is a picture of delight!  It could be used as a definition of delight in a dictionary…Beautiful Champions!

        There are 127,000 troops serving in Iraq currently and 33,000 serving in Afghanistan….They are Champions every one.  Love and Gratitude to them and to their families from Champion Missourians.  “Good luck.”

        A nice note came from Betty Thomas over at the Edge of the World at Yates.  She responded to an inquiry about horse riding and said, “We don’t have horses, just wagons.  Isn’t that funny?”  Talking about Bud Hutchison’s trail ride last week she said, “We rode with some friends (car tire wheels) last year.  It was so much fun.”

        Stress relievers, ideas about bees, pictures of delight, beguiling things and things so much fun can be sent to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Email any good chocolate cake receipts to Champion News.  There is probably NyQuil for sale at Henson’s store on the Sunny Side of the Street in downtown Champion where the motto is “Looking on the Bright Side!”