Champion News

CHAMPION—March 4, 2008

        Somebody said that along about August Champions will be mighty glad to have one of these big frog strangling rains.  Things seem to dry up so quickly and every year seems to be different.  Daffodils and hyacinths are beginning to come up and things are greening up as fast as the snow melts.  Ms. Ethel McCallie from over in Nowata, OK writes, “My goodness! but hasn’t this been an cold miserable winter here in Oklahoma!  The trees are so broken, split and on the ground, it looks terrible, like a giant tornado had gone through.  The men are still cleaning them up, and talk like they’re running out of a place to put them.  I see they’re grinding lots of it into mulch which is good for the ground and plants, so it should be cheap and plentiful this spring in the nurseries.  I notice in the Ava paper they’d had a lot of ice and snow there too.  Maybe spring will start springing soon.  Everyone here is hoping so.”  Champions are optimistic for the same thing!

        Ms. McCallie writes and interesting and informative letter mentioning transplanted Champions Eva (Henson) Phillips now in Midway City, OK, and Vernon and Vivian Lakey, cousins of Champion Esther Wrinkles.  Vernon and his wife, Betty, live over near Bartlesville, OK and Vivian and her husband, Frank Smith, live in Elderado, AR.  “They’re all just top grade folks,” says Ms. McCallie.  She also says that she and her cousin, Darrell Haden, share an interest in family history and have some frequent and extensive phone conversations.  The lyrics to his song “All the Late News From the Courthouse” came to the Champion mail box this week and make some very interesting reading.  A resident Champion has said that those events might still be too fresh in local memories to bring it all up again.  It is being taken under advisement.

        Over in Champion there were some folks glad to know more bad weather was headed their way early in the week.  Certainly it works a hardship on some folks to have to be out in the snow and mud to get their chores done, but others used it as an opportunity to rest up from all the activities associated with the Skyline VFD chili supper.  Some ladies spent most of Monday (usually considered ‘wash day’) sitting around with their feet up.  There were lots of phone calls back and forth among them and the event was generally considered to have been a great success.  “The Bachelor Meets The Old Maid” quilt was won by Darlene Brown of Mountain Grove.  Darlene’s husband, Robert, was raised just east of Fox Creek from Champion, easily within hollering distance.  They have lived in Mountain Grove for a long time, but they keep their ties close with Champion and Skyline.  They have probably been to every picnic and chili supper and other fund raiser that the Skyline Fire Department has ever had.  The Mossberg Shotgun was won by Bernard Paul who lives a little west of Skyline.  His brother, Bob and his sister-in-law, Mary, have just moved to this area from Oregon.  They both work over at Rockbridge and Mary is quite a fabulous baker.  In addition to a cake decorated in a chocolate fire department motif, she contributed a triple decker chocolate snicker cake to the silent auction.  It brought a tidy sum and the Auxiliary is delighted to have a new member.

        Kalyssa Wiseman was in the neighborhood over the week end.  She had a good time at her first chili supper and the next day spent a good amount of time singing.  She has a lovely voice and it is obvious that she shares her brother Foster’s love of music and his talent.  She is a very good natured person, she takes after her beautiful grandmother in more that looks.  Grandparents are some of the luckiest people in Champion.

        Linda’s almanac from over at the Plant Place says that March 12,13, 16, 17 and 18 will be good days for planting above ground crops and the next good days for root crops start on the 23^rd of the month.  It might be too cold, but some Champions are just itching to get their hands dirty.  If it thunders in February, it will frost in May according to some old wives tales and some of those old wives live in Champion.  Still gardeners are anxious to get started!

        There are currently about 800 Missouri National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq.  It is cold and dangerous there and they are doing what their Country asks of them.  In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote:  “These are the times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

        “Keep on the Sunny Side,”  “Keep a Little Song Handy,”  “On the Sunny Side of the Mountain,”  “Sing and Be Happy”—these are a few of the uplifting, spirit raising songs that are often heard in Champion.  There is some sweetness about a sad old song sometimes, but these days some Champions are hungry for the Brighter Side.  Other Champions are just hungry for other people’s cooking.  A Champion was remarking about the upcoming change to Daylight Savings Time saying that he doesn’t understand how getting up earlier and turning on the lights saves energy.  Some people are happy about the change.

        Examples of reasons to be happy are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Easy receipts for Happiness or uplifting songs can be e-mailed to Champion News or sung right out loud on the porch at Henson’s Store on the North Side of the Square where Champions are always Looking on the Bright Side!