Prince Philip Hero

 

We all need heroes and how lucky we were to find one, in Prince Philip.

Dam straight. 

What a man.

Leftists really hate him because look at Fascist who fought literal Fascists. But hey, reason ain't their strong suit.

All hail Prince Philip,

LSP

Edinburgh Garrison RSM - For LL

 

Behold the power of the RSM, and well done those boys. LL, this short infovid's for you, respect. In other news, we had our diocesan convention this morning and it was incredibly, mercifully short. Upshot? They made me a Rural Dean. What does a Rural Dean even do?

I guess we'll find out. My guess is... fish, shoot, listen to Waylon, ride again, drive rigs, say Mass and get rural on a Dean tip. But seriously, if you'd said in the mid '90s and beyond that I'd be Priest-in-Charge of two country missions between Dallas and Waco, well, I'd have laughed.

How preposterous. Hey, the joke was on me, and I thank God for it. No kidding.

Your Pal,

LSP

Clear The Brush

It was a day much like any other day, the objective being to clear brush from the church. So I drove Sleeping Beauty and his pal, Funboy 2, to one of the missions after the usual exercise of Morning Prayer, walk the Shadow Wolf and all of that.

Work Harder!

The men of the mission were already hard at work, chainsaws in hand, and we stuck right in. Clear that brush! was the prime directive.

A Smoker

Then a political philosopher turned up with a smoker and the fun began as mesquite met heat and the delicious aroma of hot links and other delicacies spread over the work site. Next time it'll be Elk and Boar but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Typical Brush Pile

Several hours later the work was done and we'd gotten off light; imagine the settlers of the last century, clearing and working the land. Put yourself in Montana or Alberta during the winters of the 19th C or for that matter, Texas in the summer before air conditioning. 

They were tough, no doubt about it, and rainbow riding didn't loom large on their radar. Doubtless they had other things to think about.

Funboy 2

We will too, when everything comes crashing down under a mountain of irreparable debt and our money's exposed for the rotten fish head that it is. Good luck with that, all you who live in a city and just about anywhere else.

Eschaton

Speaking of which, smart people are building compounds and learning to ride, shoot, fish and hunt if they haven't already mastered these forward looking skills.

Yours truly,

LSP

Fire On The Mountain

One of the things some local Baptists do well here is a men's prayer breakfast. They meet every Friday and they're a good, straight-up group of guys who like to ride, shoot and fish and aren't ashamed of their faith.

I like to go for the prayer and fellowship and to hear a short, simple but direct message. Today's was on Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings. Elijah called down fire from heaven and confounded the evil prophets of an evil god. These met a grisly end, which serves as a warning to the idolatry of our dark and increasingly barbarous age. So be filled with the fire of God that is the fire of love, and repent.

Texas This Morning. Note Water

My mind went back from that to Exodus, the burning bush and the Divine Name, I AM THAT AM, or, in the Septuagint, He Who Is, and then forward in time to Pentecost and the tongues of fire that rested upon the Apostles.

No Comment

Some say that the episcopal mitre represents this fire. Others again point to the awkward bit in the Gospel about wolves in sheep's clothing, to say nothing of the demon Baal and its false prophets.

Make of that what you will.

LSP

Ride Like The Wind

I won't lie, we pretty much flew along over the fields and trails after Mass today. But when not going full tilt hell for leather and Devil take the hindmost, I worked on collection, posting trot and basic horsemanship.

Go on, Run at That Tree

Running at a tree and then galloping around it was pretty good fun; working on serpentines with minimal use of reins was maybe less so, but probably a more valuable exercise. And I won't discount the importance of galloping through the bucolic Mesquite trails of Olde Texas. Careful there, fella, don't get your eye gouged out!

See, That's What Happens

Thorns aside, it was good to simply explore the land on horseback, I find that relaxing, it clears the head. And think, not too long ago, almost within living memory, this county was only just settled, and even that might be stretching a point. But for all its lawlessness, and there was plenty, there weren't many Indian raids. In neighboring counties, sure, but not here. 

A Fairly Typical Tree

As I understand it, people think it was a kind of neutral zone, or "treaty area," which made it comparatively peaceful, as far as the tribes were concerned. Different story of course, if you were John Wesley Hardin.

Spot Hardin. Note, none of these people are in "The Band."

Harding shot and killed somewhere between 20 and 40 people, maybe more, before he was shot in an El Paso Saloon by lawman John Selman. Hardin had killed 8 men by the time he was 16 and I mentioned that to my friend who kindly lets me ride on his ranch. "The thing about him," he said, "is that he just wasn't sane."

It's more than conceivable, in fact it is likely, that Hardin rode through or very near the land I was riding on today. 

Mind how you go,

LSP

Anglo-Catholics, This One's For You. A Confession

I know it's terribly confusing, but there's a movement, or a shadow of a movement, within Anglicanism that asserts catholicity for our part of the church. Scripture, creeds, sacraments, apostolic tradition, piety, liturgy, salvation, the nature of the church herself, all these and more are viewed and believed in through a catholic lens.

Now, as a part of this movement, such as it is today, I have a confession to make -- and yes, make yours before Christmas, if you can -- there was a time, not so long ago in the greater scheme of things, when I felt that if I didn't have this:

St. Nicholas du Chardonnet

I wasn't somehow cutting it. But I got this:

Rural missions in Texas. Not shrines in Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, or even Texas, for that matter. And you know what, I don't feel shortchanged for a moment.

Don't get me wrong, I love a Solemn High Mass as much as I loathe, scorn and despise liturgical dance, or the monstrous regiment of priestesses, women bishop figures and associated clowns. But here's the thing -- don't let yourself become that most ridiculous and pathetic of creatures, a church snob. God will surprise you. In my case, that's been for the good.

Don't Teacup, Fool

In related news, I've reminded the bishop that it'd make a lot of sense to put a new rule in place regarding postulants for ordination. Viz. If you can't ride and you don't shoot, you can't get in.

That is all.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Get in the Saddle

"For a so-called horseman you sure don't seem to do much riding, LSP," I hear you say, pointedly. Well not so fast. Monday being as good a day as any, I pulled on my Ariats, loaded a Circle Y in the truck and headed off to ride.

Keena

Which is what I did, on Keena, an old Polish Arabian mare who used to race and still has plenty of go. But I didn't push it, just walk, trot and a few short canters around Mesquites.

Front Office

Great to be back in the saddle again and next time I'll open things up a bit for a gallop. Good for mind, soul and body, provided you don't come off and break, obviously.

Ride on,

LSP

Brandon Texas

I'll be driving off to Windsor/Detroit next week so I thought I should get some practice time at the range. That takes me through Brandon.

Brandon's Post Office

There's not a lot there, some dirt roads, a few houses, an abandoned Presbyterian church, a small Post Office and a Co-Op.

Brandon's Co-Op

Some people are afraid of places like Brandon. Perhaps they should be.

T Posts

I find the Brandonites I know friendly, unlike the Austin leftists who'll rip you off in the maze of a labyrinth and at the drop of a dreadlock.

Shoot, Ride, Fish

Shoot straight,

LSP

Shoot More, Ride More

You'll have to forgive the recent lack of posting but I've been busy, not least with self-examination, which is a Lenten discipline leading to penitence, confession and amendment of life. With that in mind, several things have become very clear after Ash Wednesday, including:

Shoot more

Ride more

So I've been doing both and think it's time to up the ante on the former with a night-time coyote call - there's been plenty of paper punching lately but precious little hunting and it's time to put the AR to practical use. Viz. horses; it's all very well to spend a couple of hours a week on the quadruped, but how are you ever going to really advance on the basis of such minimal acquaintance? A bit like someone wondering why they don't get very far spiritually when all they do is spend an hour and a half in church on Sunday.

Speaking of church - today's Gospel was St. Luke's variant of Our Lord's temptation in the wilderness. Different than Mathew's because the mountain temptation is placed in the middle of the narrative.

With that in mind, it struck me last night that what Luke portrays is an inverse, or diabolic mirror image, of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai - successfully resisted by Christ, who refers "Old Scratch" to the "first and great commandment" (gotta love the old Prayer Book), by way of Deuteronomy.

If any theologians would like to comment, well, I'd welcome the thought.

Have a blessed Lent.

LSP