Buy The Cider!

My old boss, MCP, poacher turned gamekeeper turned poacher again, left the high pressure lifestyle of corporate IT and guerrilla marketing for "Big Blue" to set up as a mole catcher. I promised to support his new campaign, so I am. You will notice the words "free," "offer" and "perfect." They are emblematic.

Here's an excerpt from the Moler's website:

"Until recently the traditional mole catcher had nearly disappeared. However, due to a trend to milder winters and the withdrawal of strychnine, the mole population has exploded. Trapping them is back in vogue. Old methods -- using modern traps -- has seen the return of the mole catcher once more stalking the land."

Son of the Soil

Help this man. Please. Buy the Cider.

LSP

Episcopal Church Genius!

What?

A curious new ad for The Episcopal Church (TEC) has been making the rounds. It says that TEC is against "fundamentalism."

Make of this marketing genius what you will, but I'd say TEC was fundamentally wrong. So here's a picture of an ape, to put things in perspective.

God bless,

LSP

Circle Y - Neck Reining

Circle Y

Had to reschedule picking up the Lee and a go on .375(!) pistolry, so I consoled myself with a stroll to the Gold Nugget Pawn and Gun, where I said a prayer over the owner, Miss Jane, and sprinkled some Holy Water about. Keeps the demons at bay.

Then I bought an old Circle Y saddle. It fits JB pretty well, though she needs a cut away pad because of her high withers. 

I like riding Western after a couple of years of English and find it gives a little more control, but maybe my horsemanship has improved... Regardless, we practiced neck reining and I was pleased to see her picking it up pretty quickly. 

The method, as I understand it, is pretty simple. Cue the turn with seat and legs, touch the animal's neck with the outside rein and show the creature the movement with the inside rein. After a while the horse starts to get what you're asking for and turns with a light touch to the neck and relevant cues from leg and seat.

On a cold gray misty morning

Some people think neck reining means yanking the horse's head around with a great left or right tug of the reins. 

I'd say that was wrong, not that I'm an expert.

I read somewhere that it takes around a 1000 rides to train a good horse. JB's a little over half way there; patience, I remind myself, is key.

Stay on the horse.

LSP

Anglican Church of Canada Attacks China!

ACoC

Readers may not remember ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada), the dismally small Anglican denomination that left earth for the icy void of deep space. 

But gone isn't necessarily forgotten, as large chunks of the little church rain down from space on unsuspecting Chinese villagers in Jiangxi Province.

Astronaut

"We thought it was an earthquake but it was just a broken old bit of the Anglican Church of Canada," said one visibly relieved villager.

Fortunately the ACoC debris fell harmlessly onto farmland, causing no injuries or damage to property. Next time the world may not be so lucky.

We have been warned,

LSP

Good Horse - Evil Liturgists.

JB

After Morning Prayer I left the Command Post for a well needed ride on JB. She hadn't been out for a while  and did pretty well. 

Tack

We practiced figure eights, circles and serpentines around thorn bushes and Mesquite Trees. Just walk and trot, which was fine. I was pleased to see she stood still while I mounted; something of a breakthrough... In other news, the Manhattan Infidel has told me that priests are, in fact, allowed to "shoot people." Namely "liturgists."

Destructive

"But why?" You ask.

Menace

I'd say that was self-evident.

Off to load m'guns.

LSP

Open Carry?

After the second Mass of the day I enjoy talking with the congregation over coffee and I like the conversation which usually follows a pattern. Horses, the price of feed, fencing, theology (today it was transubstantiation and God's timeless omniscience), and guns; sometimes the odd military anecdote. Things nearly got a bit heated this morning:

LSP: Why is Texas so anti open carry?

Congregant 1: I don't know, maybe it's because of Austin and its hippies. Ask him.

LSP: Why no open carry here?

Congregant 2: This state legislature will never pass that! Too many illegals running around and we can't have 'em carrying guns.

Congregant 1: That doesn't have anything to do with it, they can't legally buy a gun anyway.

Congregant 2 (with heat): It'll never happen! It's a matter of safety!

Congregant 1: Safety! I call it tyranny!

LSP: Calm down gentlemen, please.

But it's odd, isn't it, that the Lone Star State should be so vehemently opposed to people carrying their firearms about openly. You'd think it'd be the other way around. And, if Arizonans and New Mexicans can walk about pistol on hip style, why not Texans? Similar number of immigrants, legal and otherwise. So, is our open carry ban a matter of big brother nanny state riding down duvet over our freedoms? Or some other thing?

Not that I have a dog in the fight -- priests aren't supposed to run around shooting people, you see.

God bless,

LSP

Speed Freak!

Lee Speed - note safety

The excitement builds as Monday draws close and with it the collection of a new Lee No.4 Mk.1. That in itself is a fine thing. Lees are good, unlike, say, Nancy Pelosi, or Jefferts Schori. But even better, for me, is the project of recreating the old No.4 into something like a Lee Speed.

Express

Dark wood. Serious checkering. Express sights. A new trigger. Maybe a re-barrel and, you never know, there's always the option of .375 Flanged Nitro Express. 

Greatness

SBW (top blog) also recommends a shotgun style safety; he thinks it's more "Sandhurst" and I have to say I'm inclined to agree...

Now some of you might say, "Don't be silly LSP, just go out and buy one." But that's not the point, is it.

Keep pulling the trigger and, as always, have a blessed Sunday.

LSP

Well Done, Jonathan Baker.

Pusey House

The retreat's over, more's the pity; it was led by an old friend from years ago, Jonathan Baker, the newly consecrated Bishop of Ebbsfleet. He's also chief of Pusey House, Oxford. Baker's meditations were outstanding and were themed on the Feasts of Our Lady.  

Assumption - Titian

All very uplifting and, for me at least, a welcome reminder of the role of Mary in showing us the meaning of the Christian life. Baker also quoted Hans Urs Von Balthasar, a great theologian whose writing I'm guilty of neglecting. Here's an excerpt on beauty to help make up the deficit:

"Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past--whether he admits it or not--can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love."

Blake - Crucifixion

I like that and, of course, the beauty of the Lee.

God bless,

LSP 

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

For The Bushwacker

SBW

Despite the often frivolous content of this blog, with its emphasis on the ridiculous ACoC, fighting apes and come as you may horse riding, I do take some things pretty seriously. Namely, admonitions from the Suburban Bushwacker - who by sheer creative energy went "from fat boy to elk hunter" in one fell swoop of finger to keyboard.

SBW had this to say:

"Very pleased to hear about further riflery. If anyone should by law be

required to be in possession of a sporterised 303 it's you (LSP). chop chop,

get on with the first one."

BSA Lee Speed

Bushwacker was and is right. I have no choice but to get on with the first one. That means getting a Lee that's already been sporterised, because I'm not about to desecrate a rifle in original condition. It means bluing the barreled action, upgrading the wood - Black Walnut with plenty of checkering. The barrel will have to be trimmed and crowned; it'll have to be optics ready and in possession of a new front sight. It must, of course, reflect its owner - a Brit in Texas.

That's the project and thanks to Tom a start's been made, a No. 4 Mk. 1 sporter at a very reasonable price. I'm looking forward to collecting that in a week or so and getting right down to it.

Thanks, SBW, for the mandate and serious attention to detail.

Good shooting,

LSP

Steenson Loves Schori.

Steenson

The United States now has an Ordinariate in which Anglicans can convert to the Roman Catholic church while keeping elements of their heritage. The newly minted leader of the U.S. Ordinariate is Geoffery Steenson, former TEC (The Episcopal Church) Bishop of the Rio Grande.

In a recent article in The Living Church, Steenson had this to say about his former boss, litigious abortion advocate, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori.

“One of the people I’m still very grateful for is Katharine Jefferts Schori. She was absolutely wonderful... I could not have asked for better pastoral care from my presiding bishop.”

Absolutely Wonderful!

Resisting the urge to say "let's all break out the cuddly toys and go hug a tree while trying not throw up," I congratulate Fr. Steenson on his new appointment. 

Someone's Parker Hale awesomness

All you need is love and a custom Lee Enfield.

I love Lees.

LSP

Oh Canada!

Don't get me wrong, I love Texas. But sometimes I get the urge to travel into the icy vastness of Canada, which is what I did on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

Stephen Ave - Alright By Me

I like Calgary; you can walk about downtown, go to restaurants, shops and relax under the bison head at the Hyatt bar. I always think it's a cross between England and the U.S., except of course that it's an oil and gas boomtown.

Shops

But whatever, you can also visit Pro Line Shooters in Inglewood. It's a small gun shop on 9th Ave in Inglewood, not too far from the center of town and distinguished for its barbershop. This means that you can get your hair cut and then buy a gun. Back in the day the barber was a communist called Doug and we got on well, despite divergent politics. He was a great character but died a year or so ago, may he rest in peace. They sell Sigs there, which the owner told me he didn't much like. We swapped stories of Browning Hi Powers and the force of large caliber battle rifles. He was very against the 5.56 and thought it was introduced to suit the small stature of our one time South Vietnamese friends. That was new to me.

What's that huge new NSDAP structure in the background?

Speaking of Inglewood, St. John's church, which left the bizarrely tiny ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada) to join the Roman Catholic Church, has been allowed to keep its buildings. 

If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I wouldn't have wagered my fighting monkey on the odds of that. Well done ACoC for doing the right thing. Then, all too soon, it was back to Texas and the mission field.

Fighting Monkey

Good city, Calgary. Visit if you can and say a prayer for St. John's, Inglewood. Well done them for keeping their buildings and avoiding a lawsuit.

Cheers,

LSP