Clergy Deployment

Once a year the clergy of the diocese of Fort Worth go on retreat at Montserrat, which is a Jesuit house on Lake Dallas. It's a silent retreat, except for the first evening, which features the civilised custom of a cocktail hour followed by supper.

I sat with the bishops and suggested a new deployment strategy for incoming clergy. It went like this:

LSP: Bishops! I have a new deployment strategy for the diocese.

Bishops: Yes?

LSP: It's very simple.

Bishops: Good.

LSP: Yes.

Bishops: Well, what is it?

LSP: If you can't ride and you don't shoot you can't get in.

Bishops: Ah.

The assorted prelates seemed to like the wisdom of my plan and I look forward to its implementation in the coming years.

Stay on the horse and shoot straight.

Cheers,

LSP

Get Back on the Horse!

After an annoyingly indoors kind of week the toe healed sufficiently to pull on my boots and get out to the horses. JB's made real progress -- she stands still when tied, walks, trots, canters and, for the most part, goes where's she's asked to. In brief, the last month or so has been given over to instilling forward movement, response to the aids and confidence in each other.

Nothing wrong with that, so to celebrate progress we moved into a larger pasture with plenty of room to gallop about. After a short longe we moved out at a walk, followed by a trot and fastish canter; pleased at that I turned her 'round, barnwards, and asked for speed.

Well, there's nothing like obedience and JB was only too obliging to hurtle at breakneck pace towards a small herd of mares and the general direction of barndom and a thorn tree. I stayed on, just, she ducked, I lost a stirrup, she went faster, I lost a rein and held onto the mane, so she bucked and off I glided into the thorns.

No harm done; climbed back on and galloped about the field in a largish way. Set to do the same tomorrow, it's a great thing to go fast on that horse. Must combine that with a long overdue shoot, and that's no bad thing either.

Stay out of the thorn tree and God bless.

LSP

Barnyard Face-Off

Lent seems to be proceeding apace and with it an increase in neighbouring poultry, which kick up a row at most hours of the day and night. Sometimes they fire up the local dogs, who answer their strangled crows with fierce barking, but there seems to be less of that lately, thank God.

I tell you, it's not easy to concentrate on the sacred mysteries of the Mass when there's some kind of barnyard face-off between bird and pitbull.

Still, there's plenty of peace of mind to be gained from riding and shooting; who knows, maybe one day I'll be good at both - at once.

I'd say that was a fine ambition, unlike the strange new "hate database" for children in the U.K., where there's evidently a rash of overweight preteens calling each other "gay boy".

Just say no to dhimmitude.

LSP