Coyote, Hawk, Horse Gun

powerful LSP medicine

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts but things have been busy with the first two weeks of Lent and the attempt to get some penitential perspective on the business at hand.

camo jacket, now I'm invisible

Still, managed to have a go at the coyotes. Interesting result; got up early to make my stand at first light. Set up, hunkered down and called away (electronically), in a crosswind, upwind of a creek the dogs are running through. Did they come in?

JB and Bebop ready to go

No. Set off a few 'howls' and got a response - uphill and about a 1/4 of a mile away - along with lots of bellows from a herd of cows. The dogs had run uphill towards the bovines before I was in position, they weren't leaving those pastures for my "distressed rabbit", and who can blame them?

bad gelding

But the birds were listening, namely three hawks and a crow that answered the call and circled lazily overhead, looking for the hypothetical wounded bunny. They were neat to watch and it was good to see my call produced results, just not the ones I'd had in mind. So I went to another stand and called again, but then it was too late. No dogs...

But plenty of horses, which I rode. Excellent result.

Moral of the story? Get a better setup and try, try again - perseverance, you see.

God bless.

LSP

Riding About

Get a haircut, LSP

A little while ago a friend remarked that he had a "creepy, edgy feeling" and that was before the nightmare news from Japan. Not wanting to compound things, I thought a brief post on horses might be in order.

After a few weeks of "back to basics" riding, concentrating on control, obedience and collection, JB was moved to a much larger pasture, shared by a small herd of mares and a couple of geldings. She seemed to enjoy that but was obviously too immature and willful to allow herself to be caught easily - so we penned her up.

This helped her attitude. Now she associates the large, enjoyable pasture, with all its interest and fun, with being ridden; the result being a much more amenable, less evasive creature. With that in mind, I've worked on two gaits, walking and trotting, because I want to be sure of that foundation before moving onto speedier things.

One of the herd

With hindsight, I'd say I took JB a little too far, too fast, charging about before I was really sure that she wouldn't do something peculiar. For example, there you are on a semi-trained young thoroughbred mare, gliding over the fields at a smooth hand gallop. Great result. Huge, uplifting enjoyment. Then a stallion calls out on some subsonic frequency from half a mile away and the mare's brain explodes. Bang! and off she goes, with or without you, at tremendous speed.

So she's being trained out of that kind of inconsistency and I'm learning patience. Well worth the effort, because she's a smart, elegant animal with, so I'm told, good athletic potential.

Coyote calling Thursday - set up at first light and see how it goes.

Stay on the horse,

LSP

What's Wrong...

new gun shop

with this picture?

Nothing at all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Ash Wednesday

A member of one of the Missions attended Mass on Ash Wednesday and duly had the sign of the Cross traced on her forehead. It's a powerful symbol, reminding us of our mortality and the need for repentance as we "walk the way of the Cross" during Lent. After the service the parishioner went to Wal Mart to pick up supplies and, not being one to hide her faith, hadn't rubbed off the ashen Cross...

which evidently caused an uproar. A large man spotted the Cross and began to point and bellow, "The Mark of the Beast! The Mark of the Beast!" until he was taken out of the store by his partner.

The point of this story? Aside from the curious conversion of the minions of antichrist to the Cross? I'd say it was simple:

When there's no more room in Wal Mart the dead shall walk the earth. 

But don't get me wrong, I like their cheap ammo.

Have a blessed Lent,

LSP

Angels

Archangel Michaelerkirche, Vienna

Being an LSP isn't just about horses, guns and underhand attacks on the "agitprop abomination" (thanks Silverfiddle) that is TEC and the extra-planetary ACoC. No, sometimes it involves reflection on the Angels. What are these creatures?

If you're a dogmatic atheist the answer's simple - they're figments of overheated imaginations. Madeleine Murray O'Hair and Margaret Sanger probably thought that, but to the faithful they're something else again. 

Here's some basic background:

Being spirits, we can say that angels are invisible, immaterial essences and therefore not bound by physical constraints. However, we learn from Scripture that angels interact with the material world and can assume bodily appearance, for example, rolling away the stone of the empty tomb (Matthew 28:2; Mark 16:3-4).

O'Hair, not an angel

Likewise, they appear as messengers of the Divine will and harbingers of His judgement, notoriously so in John's Apocalypse, where they exercise power and control of the elements to bring about the consummation of the Kingdom. Possessed of intellect, emotion and volition and living in a permanent state of heavenly bliss, they act in harmony with the will of God against the forces of wickedness - not least that of Satan and his apostate angels whose end is destruction.

Tradition, relying on Scripture and the teaching of the Church Fathers, assigns nine ranks to the angelic host:  Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, Angels, with each rank having a different function. Seraphim, for example, worship before the throne of God (Isaiah 6:2-3; Revelation 4:8), while the Archangel Michael leads the angelic army against Satan (Revelation 12:7).

Again, Tradition assigns each person and place an angel, from heavenly bodies to Airborne units.

Archangel Michael, Airborne Patron

 
And, if you want to learn more about angelic natures it's probably best to check out the Medieval schoolmen who devoted great mental energy to the thing. I find it interesting and suspect that the subjects of the inquiry served as vehicles for broader metaphysical speculation - but my preference aside, it seems abstruse  and fantastical to most people today.

So, granted belief, what are we to make of the angels?

On the one hand, it seems comforting to think that we have supernatural guardians, but when we reflect on their implacable goodness perhaps an element of healthy respect and awe is also in order.

Remember the Cherubim in Genesis 3:24 - they were possessed of a flaming sword. Not to be conjured with lightly.


God bless,


LSP

Bishops Pt. III - Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Schori?

Goofy

 

 

In a recent visit to All Saints of the Desert church in Arizona, Jefferts Schori, leaderene and "Boy Bishop" of The Episcopal Church (TEC) spoke out in favor of Islam.

Scary

“There are many strands of Muslims that share a great deal in common with the Episcopal Church. God will use us if we are willing to work closely with each other. There are great possibilities,” stated Schori to parishioners.

Zany

Great possibilities - for what? Interfaith pilgrimages to Mecca? Joint basket weaving workshops? Shared disbelief in the divinity of Christ? And just who are these multiple "strands of Muslims" who have so much in common with Schori's TEC? Would they be the ones that do the beheading, or the ones attacking Christians in Egypt and throughout the Middle East?

Violent

After her enigmatic comments on The Religion of Peace, Schori told listeners that, "Weapons of violence should not be freely available to just anyone who wants them.”

Evidently Arizona is a free firearms distribution zone. Who knew?

Well done Schori, you get a robust eight Alien Heads.

LSP