Don't go to a Liturgical Dance, Ride Instead

You wake up, it's a beautiful day and you think to yourself, "I know, I'll go to a liturgical dance!" Resist that temptation, and go for a ride.

Goofing Off

Liturgical Dance is goofy.

Horses Scorn Liturgical Dance

Riding is not goofy, mostly.

Bad And Weird

Liturgical Dance is bad.

Good Horse

Riding is good.

Blasphemous Nonsense

Liturgical Dance is blasphemous.

Don't go Liturgical Dancing, Fool

Riding is not.

I hope this short educational post helps all of us to keep a better, more disciplined and holy Lent. Remember, when temptation strikes, as it so often does, don't go liturgical dancing! Go for a ride instead, it's better for mind, body and spirit.

That is all.

LSP

Satan's Storm, Kopperl Texas

Perhaps the most startling remains of the storm was in what had been the cotton patch at Pete and Inez Burns' farm. The cotton was about knee high and a 'lucious crop' the day before, according to the couple. The next morning all that was left were carbonized stalks peeping out of the ground. The corn fared little better.

That was caused by a freak storm, which broke over the small town of Kopperl, Texas, shortly after midnight on June 15, 1960. Within minutes, temperatures climbed to 140° Fahrenheit, brought on by superheated winds gusting at 75 miles per hour as a dying thunderstorm collapsed over the rural community. Locals called it Satan's Storm.

Who knows why, or on account of what wickedness, Satan was allowed to strike Kopperl and not much remains of the town today. A hardware store sits abandoned and slowly falling into ruin across from the train station, and a fire truck rusts in the morning Texan sun. All stricken, I imagined, by the superheated wind of Satan's Storm.

The town was named after Galveston railway tycoon Moritz Kopperl and founded in the 1880s as a Bosque County shipping point on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railway. At its peak in 1904 the town boasted 394 souls, it has some 200 today.

There may not be a lot to see in Kopperl and maybe there never was, but you can hear the birds sing and the air is clear.

God bless,

LSP

Country Life in Texas, Part Something or Other

Things started off well. Get up with the dawn, walk the dog, drink some coffee, say Morning Prayer and then go for a ride. That meant driving out to my friend's ranch near Aquilla and meeting up with him and two youngsters. I met them riding down the ranch road and told them I'd catch up, and that's what happened. Tack up and gallop.

As always, it was beautiful to ride out in the morning sun and I enjoyed myself weaving in and around the mesquites and going through the gaits. The kids had fun too, though at a more sedate pace. Thanks a lot, RP, for the riding hospitality.

Ride over, I stopped to get some coffee on the way home and learned that a churchperson was very sick in hospital. So I made a swift turnaround and drove to Waco, but not before taking a picture of my neighbor's peacock. It's one of several and likes to roost in the trees when not shrieking with a high and crazed insanity.

The day finished appropriately, with Stations of the Cross, and that's just the way it is.

God bless,

LSP

Berned

Go Figure.

Have a blessed Ash Wednesday,

LSP

Shrove Tuesday

As faithful Christians were gearing up for Lenten penance, Hillary Rodham Clinton was getting a shriving in New Hampshire, handily beaten by a 74 year Communist, Bernie Sanders. 

The GOP establishment took one in the face too, with celebrity real estate mogul Donald Trump dominating the Republican Party field. Sorry, bow tie and tasseled loafer brigade, you lose.

So what does it mean, we asked ourselves over pancakes at the Missions. A Bern v. Trump shoot-out for the Presidency? A return to the good old days of better dead than red or vice versa and devil take the hindmost?

One thing's sure, if the old commie keeps up at this pacemaker it's going to take a whole lot of flying monkeys to keep Hillary in the running, and out of jail.

Don't forget to go to Mass tomorrow, it's Ash Wednesday.

LSP

Scientist Unlocks Mystery of Junk DNA

Scientists have long been puzzled by what appears to be "Junk DNA" that doesn't code like normal human DNA and appears to have no real purpose. But startling new research may have found an answer, Extraterrestrials.

Sequence The Code

According to Professor Chang of the Human Genome Project, Junk DNA is evidence of an ET "programmer" who "grew" beings in the same way we grow bacteria in a Petri dish. 

“Our hypothesis is that a higher extraterrestrial life form was engaged in creating new life and planting it on various planets," stated Chang, "Earth is just one of them. Perhaps, after programming, our creators grow us the same way we grow bacteria in Petri dishes."

However, Chang believes the alien programmers' motives are unknowable, "We can’t know their motives – whether it was a scientific experiment, or a way of preparing new planets for colonization, or is it long time ongoing business of seedling life in the universe [Sic].”

Junk DNA. The accidental debris of evolution, or proof of space alien bio-engineering.

You be the judge,

LSP

Putin Gives King Beautiful Stallion, Gets Sword

Russian strongman and former KGB Colonel, Vladimir Putin, gave the King of Bahrain a stallion when the monarch visited Russia, and received a sword made from fine Damascus steel and precious metal.

The horse is called Khadjibek and is an Akhal-Teke, a breed known for speed, endurance and intelligence.

In 2010, Russia gave Barack Obama a Blue Ray disc set mounted in a wooden display box, and is now in control of Damascus, unlike Obama, who isn't.

Many argue that Vladimir Putin is the New Constantine.

LSP

Happy Mondays!

Here's a cheery thought to brighten up your day:

Via ZeroHedge -- The political class has completely disrupted the American structure of production, made American workers uncompetitive, snuffed the life out of entrepreneurs, and burdened the entire nation with a debt obligation the size of Jupiter. The US economy is not the strongest and most durable in the world — it is an unskilled thirty-two-year-old waiter crashing at his parent’s place and trying to pay down an $80,000 international relations degree.

That makes me want to go out and shoot pistols, but then again I don't need much tempting.

Gun Rights,

LSP 

Transfiguration

Today's the last Sunday of the Epiphany and Jesus appears in the Gospel, transfigured and standing between Moses and Elijah, as the fulfillment of prophecy and the law. I preached on that, emphasizing the spiritual ascent of the faithful up Mt. Tabor, culminating in our own transfiguration.

Easier said than done, of course, as we fall back down the mountain from time to time. "The Devil made me do it the first time," I told the congregation, "the second time I done it all on my own." 

Some say that a sermon's only half a sermon if it doesn't include at least one line from Waylon Jennings.

Enjoy the game,

LSP

Shoot The Turkey

It's a sad fact of life that in this vale of tears we have enemies. My enemy is an ancient steel turkey and I took some time off from visiting the sick to take care of unfinished business.

We faced off at 100 yards, just me, the metal bird and a Ruger American .22. To be honest, I had an ulterior motive. Viz. To improve the recent abysmal standard of my off-hand shooting. So I shot away and while my marksmanship was nothing to write home about, it wasn't too bad either. Take that, turkey.

After a string of satisfying plinks as the .22 rounds hit the bird, I shifted to clays at 50, 75 and 100 yards. A bit more of a challenge than the turk and it's neat to see them shatter when you hit them. A couple of aggressive tin cans found themselves in trouble too. Breath, squeeze the trigger and watch the can fly up in the air. Neat.

Shoot over, I headed back to the Compound and the prospect of large steaks for dinner. There's nothing quite like doing your best to break personal stereotypes, I always think.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

This One's For LL, Rebel Son

What can we say? Rebel Son.

All for the Cause,

LSP

So Who is Marco Rubio?

The American public and the world wants to know, who is presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio?

Is he a shill for the New World Order and the GOP establishment?

Maybe he's just an enthusiastic boy.

Or a bat-eared alien, masquerading as a normal man.

You, the reader, be the judge.

LSP

Killer No. 1

It seems those mischievous Russians are at it again! This time they've taken to beaming videos of President Obama onto buildings in downtown Moscow, portraying him as a devil eating up nations as though they were souls.

A Typical Russian Art Gallery

President Obama is frequently ridiculed by Russian pranksters, who see him as a figure of scorn and derision. By contrast, former KGB strongman, Vladimir Putin, is seen by many as a New Constantine.

According to recent polls, 18% of all Americans believe Obama is a Muslim, 43% of Republicans believe the same.

Make of that what you will.

LSP

And So It Begins, A New Dark Age

The Iraqis are building a wall around Baghdad to stop Jihad barbarians from driving into the city and blowing it and its people up.

If anyone thinks this is reminiscent of the later Roman Empire and the Dark Ages, they'd be right. The wall will be three meters high, made of concrete and backed up by a trench, or "moat."

Constantinople's walls were considerably larger and held back the barbarians until the 15th century. We'll see how long Baghdad's new wall lasts and have to ask how many other cities will follow suit. 

Some Americans believe that a wall should be built around Detroit, but that would be to keep the barbarians in.

Cheers,

LSP

Obama, You Are A Mosque Dhimmwit

Barack Hussein Obama made his first presidential visit to a US mosque today and praised Islam for its compassionate mercy and charity.

“Like so many faiths, Islam is rooted in a commitment to compassion and mercy and justice and charity," stated Obama, "Whoever wants to enter paradise, the prophet Mohammad taught, let him treat people the way he would love to be treated.”

Poltroon

So what part of plundering a city like Khaybar and taking its women as sex slave wives counts as charity? But maybe beheading 700 Jews at Medina is the way Mohammed wanted to be treated, as in eye for an eye. I think that's in the Koran somewhere, and the Prophet took it from the Old Testament while ignoring the New.

Mountebank

Here's the thing; Muslims are supposed to emulate Mohammed and they often fail. Christians are supposed to emulate Christ, and like their Muslim counterparts they don't do a desperately good job of it. Now, one of these religious leaders was a warlord who took captured women as sex slaves, the other wasn't and didn't. 

Clown

Let's not pretend, by some magical, rainbow hued, frolicking unicorn sleight of hand that both religions share the same values, as though Mohammed was just another way of spelling Jesus. They're very different, as are the implications of following either.

Dhimmwit

Or to put it another way, Obama, you are a Dhimmwit.

From the House of War,

LSP

Clay Golem Self-Censors!

Notorious Clay Golem, Lena Dunham, is self-censoring herself from the popular social media platform, Twitter. 

According to Breitbart, the celebrity Clay Golem felt threatened and bullied by hostile tweets, so it won't return to Twitter unless safeguards are put in place.

Clay Golems can be deactivated by removing the shem from their mouths. 

LSP

Get A New Roof, Go Fishing

It's building season here at the Missions, and part of that means new roofs on churches. So I tore myself away from the cut and thrust of US Presidential Race 2016 to see how the work was getting on. It was getting on just fine, in fact the crew were finishing up.

"Good work!" I told the Boss of the roofers and he told me it was all done bar the clean-up. We talked about the job for a little while and the helpful weather. Far better to be roofing in the mild springlike Texan winters than in, say, August. No fun to be up on a roof in 100++ degree temperatures. 

Someone's photo of Calgary from Scotchman's Hill

"Oh, we'd be here in August too," he assured me, and I'm sure they would. I told him about the Calgary roofers I know, up on the tall buildings in sub, subzero temperatures. "Cold!" the reverse of Texas but maybe harder. I respect that job.

Then we shook hands and he thanked me for the business and I headed for home, detouring by the lake for a bit of bank fishing. I cast away with a white shad crankbait and didn't catch anything, but it was fun trying. 

It was also fun to look at the limestone banks of the lake, with its fossilized wood, shells and vegetation frozen in stone, as though they'd been churned together in a great cataclysm. I reflected on that and the several "extinction events" that have overtaken life on earth. How was it possible, in the face of global die-offs, for life to reassert itself so abundantly? 

Metaphors for civilization and US democracy notwithstanding, I headed for home and meetings with yet more roofers, house painters and "tree service."

Mind how you go,

LSP

Texas Country

In a bold attempt to escape the intense political drama that is daily life in modern America, I drove out to visit the flock. That took me to a ranch, with trees. Those of you who understand the reality of Texas' bucolic Mesquite groves will know how pleasant that is.

I shot at a pig there once, from a moving Gator, and missed.

Heart of Oak,

LSP