The Barn by Ralph Hagen for August 16, 2010

Poor Rory. He really is lost!

GM, Marg!

Stan is much cuddlier than a fireplug. GM, Terry.

I always called them fireplugs, too Marg. But today everyone calls them fire hydrants. Brought back some old memories. :^)

So do we, Rory!

But, where are you ???? back in the city???

Don’t you just want to pick him up and carry him home? Poor little guy!

Follow your nose to the clover

Maybe Stan’s out there looking for you Rory

Do I have a problem? Why am I thinking of a dog?

It’s going to be hard to find the smell of clover in the city Rory. Good luck little lamb. If we all clap our hands maybe Tinkerbell will find him and show him the way home.

This is just so cute! Love the colors, so simple, and so striking.

Heartfelt awwwww!

Good move Rory, when you’re lost it’s important to stay hydranted

You are right, D FROG….Take care, Rory.

Send out a search party!!

Poor Rory. Hope he doesn’t get spoiled by the city. Watch out for those dogs. You’re standing on thier shrine.

So that’s what those things are for…

♠Lonewolf♠ got me thinking, as we called them “fireplugs” also when I was a kid - so, today I learned something:

“The concept of fire plugs dates to at least the 1600s. This was a time when firefighters responding to a call would dig down to the wooden water mains and hastily bore a hole to secure water to fight fires. The water would fill the hole creating a temporary well, and be transported from the well to the fire via bucket brigades or, later, via hand pumped fire engines. The holes were then plugged with stoppers, normally redwood, which over time came to be known as fire plugs. The location of the plug would often be recorded or marked so that it could be reused in future fires. This is the source of the colloquial term fire plug still used for fire hydrants today. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, the city installed water mains with holes drilled at intervals, equipped with risers, allowing an access point to the wooden fire plugs from street level.”

Where is the herding dog when you need him, didn’t he have a map so he could always locate Rory ?

Rory, look for Stan on Google maps.

Thank you Ushindi. I called them fire plugs too.

Lonewolf: The word from Oz is: we call them fire hydrants - BUT - there was a song by the brilliant Mills Brothers in the 1950s called ‘The Jones Boy’. No argument on this, it is in my 78 collection and I’ve just played it. Some words are: ‘He hops, he jumps, So merrily over the water pumps, He runs and then, He comes to a pump and he jumps again. They’re buzzin’ over the fences, He’s gone out of his senses.’

The name ‘water pumps’ was the American name for our fire hydrants. Can’t you just imagine a love-struck teenager doing leapfrogs over them?

The finale is: The whole town’s talkin’ about the Jones boy. That poor boy, the Jones boy. And I just happen to be that Jones boy, And I happen to be in love. Yes, I happen to be in love.

Don’t stay there too long. It’s illegal to park yourself at a hydrant.

Don’t know why, but the song this made me remember is:

“Hot town, summer in the city..”