WAR

 

Just throwing it out there,

LSP

Look At That Striper!

 

Don't get me wrong, catching perch is fun but catching striper is awesome. There we were after Mass, pitting wits and worms against junior bluegill when the water erupted about 30 yards off the bank. I figured it was sand bass blitzing on minnows and tied on a topwater lure.

Out it went, wait, then a zig-zag retrieve back to shore. About two thirds of the way back the water surged under the lure and a fish hit it like a steam train, taking the silvery, rattling, plastic prey down into the depths. Behold rod double action as the fish dived and tried to run, this was surely more than a regular sandy or hybrid. And sure enough it was, out came a striper.

I love topwater fishing. There's something about the explosive impact of the fish striking the lure, amped up, full of ferocious, predatory drive; it's going to get the prey before its competition. Then the fight's on. And with that, have a blessed Feast of the Transfiguration.

Tight lines,

LSP

Cooking With LSP -- Cyber Monday Pie

"Oh, cooking with LSP, where's that on the spectrum?" Good question. First things first, get a gun and put it on the table, I use a Glock 21 but that's just me. You might prefer a revolver, a Sig, a CZ or a Beretta. Up to you.

Next, boil up leftover beef bones or beef ends, the fatty, gristly stuff you don't want to eat. Add salt and pepper, you're making stock. Let it boil then reduce to a simmer for around an hour or so until the fat's rendering. You'll want around 2 cups worth.

While the stock's doing its thing, chop up an onion, a leek, a carrot or two and peel 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. Don't crush or mince the garlic, this isn't some kind of Macronite, faux Napoleon, globalist assault on traditional value. 

No, throw the whole cloves into the tin with the rest of the veg. Add olive oil and a few tablespoons of butter. Pour a cup+ of beef stock over the veg, then put that bad boy in the oven at 400* to roast. Why?

Because it'll taste good, trust me. Let the veg roast for around an hour, 'til it's starting to char, In the meanwhile, cube up some leftover roast beef, as much as you like, set it aside. 

Boil up a couple of carrots and set them aside, slice some mushrooms in half or leave 'em whole if they're small. Set them aside too. Well done, you're nearly there, so have a glass of wine or seltzer water, your choice. I chose wine.

Thirst assuaged, make a poor man's roux. I use 4 tbls of butter, flour, salt and pepper and a cup of milk+. Cook it up and behold the roux magically thicken, then pour in 1 1/2 cups of stock. Add more stock if needed, up to you.

Stir it 'round like a champion. Add the roast veg, beef, and mushrooms, stir and let simmer for a good 30 minutes. You'll see the roux change color from cream to brown. Such is cooking.

While the beast's simmering away and consolidating like a battle group about to go over the start line, roll out some pasty. I cheat and use pre-made and here's the orthodoxy; don't use puff pastry in a beef pie, use the other sort. But I like the rainbow riding puff, it tastes better. Whatever, your call.

Pastry rolled, pour the simmering awesomeness of beef and veg into a deep pie dish. Stand back and consider the completion of this phase of the advance. Perhaps play some baroque fanfares, up to you. Chivalric reverie over, don't say Agincourt, place the rolled out dough over the mix.

Decorate the in potentia pie crust with leftover dough, then glaze with egg white and put the whole thing in the oven at 375* for as long as it takes, around an hour.

Take it out, let it rest, and eat your scoff like...

A King,

LSP

Counter Revolution

Via Forward in Christ magazine:

Who will save Christian civilization with all its values and freedoms from the revolutionaries who want to destroy it?

The answer, of course, is the Church. As Belloc famously wrote, Europe is the Faith. The Faith, catholic Christianity, is at the foundation and heart of Western culture, it defines us and provides the necessary value to fight back against the anti-value of the destroyers.

“They build and we destroy,” says the Satanist Manasseh in Williams’ War in Heaven. Manasseh, in the grip of his hatred wasn’t wrong; the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, militant on earth, builds up with all the creative power of God Himself.

You can read the whole thing here if you like and while you're at it...

Out, Demons, Out,

LSP 

Open The Gate

Sure, open the gate but to what, hog hunting? That was the plan but it fell apart because we went out to catch Bluegill for dinner and couldn't stop.

First Catch Of The Day

H.E. pulled out the first, big as a dinner plate, thank you very much, and they kept on coming, one enormous, piranhalike predator after another. Outstanding fishing, with more than enough and to spare.

Some Old Fool With A Fish

By the time the beasts were filleted, beer batter deep-fried and eaten, delicious, the pig hunting moment had passed. Not to worry, there's plenty of time to get on the porcuswine  in another evolution.

Keepers, The Rest Went Back

The next day, as the fierce Texan sun rose in the morning sky and the rest of the team slumbered, it seemed right to try the waters again. 

Typical

First off, a few familiar perch and that was fine, good fun, but you feel the need to change it up. So I went topwater with a torpedo in search of Bass and BANG!

Ho, Ho, Ho! A Bass!

After a few minutes of patient, twitching retrieve, Bass were exploding onto the lure with piscine fury. Big fun but word to the wise. It's tempting, in the initial crash of the predator onto your lure, to try and set the hook. 

Fighter

Don't, you'll probably lose the fish. Instead, let the beast take the lure, dive down and the fight's yours.

Ferox

And so it was, I lost a couple and caught a couple. Great sport and I left that compound uplifted in mind, body and spirit. Next time we'll address the hog issue.

The moral of this exciting story? If you miss the hog, get on the fish.

Tight lines,

LSP

Resurrection Of The Body

Church was good today, as it always is, and I preached on the bodily resurrection. When was the last time you heard a sermon on that? On the reality of the resurrection, sure, but its bodily aspect? Not so much, I'll wager.

Preachers scare shy of it, I think, for two reasons. Firstly, they take it for granted and secondly, it's a hard doctrine. That a body should rise from the dead? Outrageous. But that's what we believe and Scripture's clear, so is tradition. But why is it so important.

Long story short, because anything less than a bodily resurrection isn't really a resurrection at all, leaving us with a ghost or an immaterial shade. And that's fine except that it isn't fully you because we're composite beings, made up of body and spirit. For the real person, you, to rise from the dead, there has to be a bodily rising or you're left with nothing more than a ghost.

To put it another way. The body which decays and dies is the proper subject of resurrection, unlike the soul which is immaterial. If the former doesn't rise then the latter's left free-floating and resurrection hasn't occurred, just the given continuance of the soul.

Speaking of which, it's long past time for a range day. Fill the truck up with guns, get out in the country and blast away.

Proven medicine for mind, body and spirit.

Gun rights and MAGA,

LSP