Good Morning Texas Even Though It's Now Evening

I stood to somewhere around first light. No, not to scan the perimeter in the predawn mist, senses sharpened to razor-like intensity, but to get the kid up for his daily football workout. Lights on, hands on socks hands off... you get the drift.

It was a beautiful, cool, overcast morning with the promise of sun breaking through the clouds and it was neat to drive out to the school as the town was coming awake. It reminded me of England in May, except hotter, without the rain and, well, the resemblance fades when you get down to detail.

The kids were already getting athletic by the time we pulled up to Football HQ; there must have been a hundred or so youngsters running around, not including the "ballers" who were starting to get busy lifting weights. And all this activity several weeks before school even starts. Well done kids, healthy body, healthy mind.

Back at the Compound, strong coffee in hand, I reflected on the morning's evolution. They say that life lived for others  results in life itself. 

Easy to say, isn't it.

God bless,

LSP

Country Life In Texas

Country life in Texas is usually, for me, all about shooting, riding, fishing and a bit of hunting but this summer's been different.

It's been about getting a young 'un enrolled in High School, into the football team and its preseason workouts, getting his vaccinations up to date, finding employment for the fellow, you can't be hanging around here all day in bed and if you do you've got another think coming type of thing.

And generally readjusting to being a full-time parent again after many years. To say nothing of recovering from a rib injury, which puts a damper on the sporting life. 

So there's not been much getting out in the field, apart from walking Blue Aggressor through packs of stray dogs to the local pick 'n steal, but that's not to say the operation has ground to a halt, far from it. Also, one of the Missions was dealt a bad blow in the sudden loss of its Senior Warden, a fine Christian lady. May she rest in peace. 

And there you have it, a fascinating snapshot into the vagaries of LSPland and I tell you this. I'd rather be wrangling with all of it in the country than in one of our dismally failed, social experiment urban hellholes.

I file this exciting report under Country Life In Texas. 

God bless you and God bless Texas,

LSP

Inspection

There was a time and not that long ago, when it was all done by horse but now it's all about the car. That's why I drove to Gene's to get my rig tested. I like Gene's auto, they're friendly, their work's good, they're not too expensive and they have an abstract pine cone sculpture in the waiting room.

You can gaze at the bronze colored pine cone installation as you wait for your vehicle to get tested. But not for long because Gene's completes the inspection in about 3 minutes. Quick work, leaving little time for art philosophy; does the pine cone's form follow its function? Who knows, time to split.

Inspection ticket in hand, head to the courthouse and behold the majestic edifice of The Law. There it is, standing tall and we have to thank Willie Nelson for his part in restoring the place after it burned down in the '90s.

After giving our beneficent rulers $76, leave the courthouse with new registration and pay your respects at the war memorials. One for the Confederate dead and another for all the rest. In God we trust, may they rest in peace. Then have a gaze at the Chisholm Trail plaque; I'd never noticed it before and for sure, this town played its part in that history.

With images of the great cattle drives playing in my mind I drove back to the Compound, and I'll tell you this.

It's a whole lot easier to get your vehicle inspected and registered in the country than it is in the city. I file this exciting story under Country Life in Texas.

God bless,

LSP

Vote For The Dog!

No! Not Hillary "Wild Dog" Clinton, I'm talking about another candidate altogether.

Blue Ballot Box the Unbribable. He's running on a popular "steaks for all" platform. 

I like that.

God bless,

LSP

Country Life

I file this picture, from the local Walmart, under "country life in Texas." The same goes for these venison sausages, Rifle to skillet and thank you very much. I think they go well with farm fresh eggs.

Heavy Metal

And you know what? I'm not complaining.

God bless Texas,

LSP 

Are You Ready For The Country?

Good question. Maybe you are, maybe you're not, but one thing's certain, the hat most certainly is. Speaking of which, no one's attempted to vandalize or remove this statue.

Sensible townsfolk.

All for the Cause,

LSP

Texas Winter Paradise

It's a beautiful sunny morning in rural Texas. Squirrels gambol, birds sing, roosters are crowing and crazed peacocks shriek and scream.

Blue Scallywag takes this as his cue to gallop, romp and play. I throw him a tennis ball, which causes great joy in the canine world. But, in this vale of tears, all good things must come to end, which means I have to leave this bucolic paradise and drive to Dallas.

To buy Christmas presents. And that's just the way it is on the front lines of the War.

On Weather.

LSP

Now We're Getting Serious

It was sunny yesterday afternoon, and Blue Metaphysic took the opportunity to roll about on the ground while reflecting on the evils of Bogomil Catharism. 

Catharism

Then clouds rolled in from the South and it began to rain, and thunder and lightning. Blue Epistemology took it all in his stride and fell asleep. I stood on the front porch and watched the rain.

Liturgist

It was a good moment, unlike Catharism and 1970s liturgical reform, which were bad moments.

God bless,

LSP

Rural Ministry #1

For some clergypersons, rural ministry is all about Morris dancers, medieval churches and these picture-postcard villages. 

You get cottages.

And big old houses.

But make sure you have a sturdy vehicle, the roads can be a bit primitive.

Also, where I live, you find abandoned hair extensions in the gutter. Well, it beats needles, I guess.

Blue Apocalypse killed a neighbor's chicken yesterday. I'm not sure what to make of that, but the neighbors, Maria and Pedro, don't care. It was one of many and they ate it.

I'm also thinking that open carry might not be a bad idea for when you take the dog for a walk.

Cheers,

LSP

I Name This Dog

It's not every day that a Blue Heeler tips up on your porch and makes it his home for a couple of days. What can you do? You can ignore him and/or send him to animal jail or you can reward his loyalty by taking him in. That's what I did, and he's gnawing on a pig's ear this very moment.

Good Dog

But that's all very well. What should I call this beast? I wasn't sure, so I appealed to the readership and got a lot of help and some great names.

Bad Dog

In the end I went for Blue. Thanks LL, but that's just a first name; I have a good mind to cycle through the other names as the mood suits. Blue Banjo one day, Blue Rustler the next and so on. When he's been bad? Blue Welby springs to mind, or simply "Justin."

In other news, a church person just donated some tamales to the cause. I'm all for that.

Cheers,

LSP

Country Life in Texas

Country life in Texas is alright. Sometimes it means doing a little bit of porch 'smithing to fix a recalcitrant trigger on a Marlin 981T. Fortunately the job was simple; tighten the screw, LSP.

Add caption

At other times it's all about cleaning some rimfires after Evening Prayer. I use a bore snake, or "pull-through," as we used to call them in what was once Great Britain. 

Ruger American

Don't get me wrong, I love England, even if it is a pathetic comsymp nanny state run by a crew of corrupt and sinister Old Etonians. Good luck with that.

Justsin

Speaking of England, a recent survey (via Breitbart) reveals that 2% of CofE clergy don't believe in God and another 9% think that it's impossible to know what God's like.

White Chicken

How many of those are bishops?

Big white roosters have setup in my yard. Make of that what you will and God bless Texas.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Country Life in Texas

"So what's it like, LSP?" you ask, meaning, "Country life in Texas." Well I'll tell you. You go out on the front porch to clean some guns and five, yes, five, chickens fly out of the front hedge, around the compound and back from whence they came.

A shotgun would've come in handy.

That's what it's like. And Wendy Davis is not wanted here.

LSP

Walking in Texas? Take a Gun.

They say that walking's good for you but in Texas you don't know what you'll find. 

Some Crew, All Wigged-Out In The Woods

Packs of wild dogs, turkeys, fierce hogs, maybe a dove or two and the occasional wigged-out crew of freaks, holed up in the brush, trying to "find the gig" and get back to Austin.

Mind How You Go

So I like to take a 12 gauge. 

Be safe,

LSP

Boss Hogg

Boss Hogg

The tires on my truck need replacing, so I went to Walmart to look at the Wrangler all-terrains. A kid moves in and stares real intently at the speakers on the rack next to the tires. There we are, I'm checking out the tires and he's dreaming, in Realtree, of audio power. 

car park carry-on

The kid picks up a "roll-back" woofer, holding it up to me in its box like an offering. He looks me in the eye, pauses for courage, and says, "That's what I'm talkin' about," and  I like him for that. He wants powerful sounds in his ride. I have all the approval in the world.

"Oh yeah," I say, with a nod, and we go about our separate ways.

I file this tale under "country life in Texas."

LSP

Skunk

SBW's Crossbow

There's a skunk in my house. It must have crept in through the basement and made its way to the downstairs bathroom, where it's made itself a kind of den. Animal Control has put a trap enclosed in a black plastic bag at the entrance of its den. 

Skunk Den

So far the skunk has resisted this ploy. It has also resisted the temptation to spray, for which I thank God. Church people have urged me to shoot the skunk with a crossbow. But I won't; I am a man of peace.

The Egg

In other exciting news, I was sitting on the front porch with some of the team, when a chicken ran into an adjacent hedge, squawked loudly, laid an egg, then strutted off quickly from whence it came.

The egg is now in my fridge.

That is all.

LSP

Parking Lot Cowboys

fix that truck

There I am at the drive-in bank, bailing myself out, when a kid in a ball cap comes into view dragging some kind of cart. I thought he might be collecting cans to recycle or shifting his things from one setup to the next.

rope that steer

But no, this cart had a bull head on it and the kid had a lariat; he parked the cart and proceeded to rope the bull head, right there in the car park. Beats collecting cans.

what a load of bull

It's harder, by the way, to rope a bull head than it looks. 

I've tried.

LSP