The Log Burner!

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Log BurnerI have a friend who is new to the delights of a log burning stove. Recently he stacked some logs next to it. He discovered later that it was possibly not the best idea he’d ever had. I have to admit at this point that I have been known, more than once, to have invited the attendance of a big red truck with blue flashing lights to a chimney in the house (I haven’t suddenly come over all self-righteous but had to admit that before you all heard it from Paul the fireman!). So rather than throw stones in my glasshouse I’ll be using the first person to spare his blushes…

I chopped some logs, my brow I did mop,
My sharpened axe, chop, chop, chop!
I stacked the logs behind the shed.
By this time my face was red!

I carried some in, walked (not drove),
Stacked them by my wood-burning stove!
Later that night I went to bed.
“Can I smell burning?” to my wife I said!

I went downstairs, there by the pyre,
The wood I’d carried, glowing with fire!
Out through the door, naked, I threw,
Smouldering logs into the night-time dew!

If you saw me, please, stifle a yawn,
That explains the burnt patch out on the lawn!

The moral of the tale is this:
A hot log-burner may be bliss.
But just make sure,
Whatever you do,
Stack the logs well away,
From a very hot flue!

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Two Feet of Snow!

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Two Feet of SnowOk! I surrender. I’ve had enough, game over – the snow can leave now! There is an old saying that says snow hangs around waiting for more and the forecast suggests this is correct. They also suggest that there will then be a dramatic rise in temperatures and a fast thaw. Knowing the stupidity at large in this country, this will probably be followed by a health and safety alert and a hose-pipe ban…

Two feet of snow,
Two feet of snow,
Why they’re so cold,
I don’t know!

Just popped out,
To feed the hens,
I hope this weather,
Soon quickly ends!

Water frozen,
Pipe is burst,
In this weather,
Nothing worse!

We’re due a thaw,
Warmer bloods,
Next we’ll complain,
About bloody floods!

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Norwegian Nina!

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Norwegian NinaSometimes a verse refuses to form. Sometimes it hits you with such force it nearly takes you off your feet! For some time I have been attempting to fit modern words to ancient nursery rhymes; imitation being the sincerest form of flattery and ancient rhymes being the perfect form of verse. This one is far from perfect I grant you, but hey, who is…

Nina’s Norwegian,
Lives two miles away.
Skied across to see us,
Just yesterday!
With poles twixt her fingers,
And skies on her toes.
She shall have ‘swish-wish
Wherever she goes!

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Oil Crisis!

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Oil-fired boilerOut here in the country we have no mains gas. Our central heating has to run on oil, which, unlike gas, can run out. When Mrs Bard was on the phone to a friend the other night she learned that they had problems with their boiler. As a result I was asked to check the level of oil in our tanks. I made a note, which I promptly lost and without the prompt, ignored! Therefore it was no surprise when it was discovered that the boiler had failed on a cold snowy Saturday evening. I set about emergency procedures…

The radiator’s cold,
The boiler’s off,
It’s annoying me no end!

The tank is empty,
The snow is deep,
Sod’s Law it’s the weekend!

I pump some fuel,
From another tank,
Not easy I won’t pretend!

I siphon oil through,
I prime the pump,
Heat through the house I send!

Lesson learned,
A pleasant warmth,
Until next time – Not again!

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Peter and Penny!

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Peter and PennyThere are not many visitors to the farm at this time of year. However, come the cold weather, we often get an influx of pigeons. Mainly ex-racers who have lost their way and decide that Baldock is quite a pleasant retirement home. They also find that the grain we feed them is tasty and an easier bet than looking for food in the hedgerows or woodland. We call them Peter or Penny as it’s easier to remember than some more classical names. However their presence comes with an occupational hazard…

Peter and Penny Pigeon,
Flying overhead,
Pooping down on passers by,
Target is the head!

So if you see them both,
And they prepare to fly,
You’d better wear a hat,
Or get one in the eye!

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Looks Like Christmas!

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Fence mendHave you ever made a remark that you just can’t shake off? Yesterday John and I were mending a broken fence in the snow when I happened to say: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!” Having completed the task we attached the snowplough to the JCB and still I couldn’t shift Johnny Mathis and Home Alone 2 from my mind…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Everywhere is snow,
Take a look at the flashing lights,
Gritting through the nights,
With little lanes and window panes aglow!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Snowploughs everywhere roam,
But the prettiest sound to hear,
Is when the BBC say ‘all clear!”
And we can all……go home!
Snowplough© Baldock Bard 2013

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Surprise Recycling!

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It’s the time of year where a farmer’s thoughts turn to fertilizer! Some choose to ‘think inside the bag!’ and buy expensive man-made artificial fertilizer from UK factories or abroad. Others look to spreading an animal by-product from the farm, much to the chagrin of recently-arrived ‘villagers’. Others, without animals, and in an attempt to save money, use a much cheaper man-made by-product…

Driving along a country road,
You see a large lorry dumping a load,
It resembles a giant, slug-like heap,
Dumped in the middle of a field of wheat!
Later on you might see people roam,
Picking tomatoes to take back home!
If I were you, don’t consider them free,
I know what they’re grown in, just trust me!
Carry on eating, I’m afraid that you’re,
Picking recycled tomatoes from human manure!
© Baldock Bard 2013
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Toby Shaw!

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Toby ShawA friend has a new dog! Nothing unusual about that. You might also be thinking: ‘the Bard didn’t chose to write about our new kitten/hamster/rat/snake/gerbil’. However this is a special dog, not only does he work with Paul Scott (http://www.scottcampers.com), but he is also a legal im-mutt-igrant from across the sea…

Toby Shaw, Toby Shaw,
Is one lucky Irish hound,
He’s managed to land squarely,
With both feet on the ground!

He’s come from the land,
Of Guinness and the bog!
With the luck of the Irish,
He is one happy dog!

He’s eyeing up a camper van,
That’s in for conversion,
That he want’s to ‘wash’ the wheels,
Is a boy Terrier perversion!

He sits all day,
On a warm workshop floor,
And thanks all the stars,
To be sure, to be sure!

Authors footnote:
Some years ago I spent 3 months in Ballycotton, County Cork. During that time I never heard anyone use the phrase: ‘to be sure, to be sure’! BB.

© Baldock Bard 2013
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I Was Bored Too!

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A friend’s 23-year-old daughter recently posted on Facebook that she was bored. Rather than enter into an age-related rant about how lives used to be busier, harder and more fulfilling all those years ago, I decided to think closely as to how the subject related to me. After an hour of staring into space, three cups of coffee and a stroll around the kitchen, I remembered when I was last bored…

I used to drive a crawler tractor
Up and down the fields,
Dusty, dirty and noisy,
Clanking tracks with no quiet wheels!

Up and down, up and down,
Cultivating all day long,
Neither radio nor air-conditioning,
Just noise that was so wrong!

There was no mobile phone,
No i-pod in my pocket,
No digital delight come the night,
Just a slammed cab door and “Fockit!”

I was bored not just to tears,
(Caused by the bloody dust!)
That I made a pact to myself that day,
Get rid of it I must!

So I bought a Merc from Germany,
The colour was yucky green,
It had a stereo and air-con,
And handled like a dream!

Since that day when boredom shows,
I soon find stuff to do,
And remember back to noisier days,
When I was so bored too!
Photos (1976 & 1988):
Fiat 80c
Mercedes MB Trac 1500

© Baldock Bard 2013
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Ode to a Puddle!

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According to the Met Office it’s been the wettest year on record. Climate change enthusiasts are celebrating this latest scientific breakthrough. Meanwhile everyone else is just looking forward to a hot dry summer (apart from the water companies who say it’s been the wrong kind of water and are preparing for an inevitable hosepipe ban)

Water, water, everywhere,
And not just in the sink!
Fields are underwater,
Should plant rice I think!
The children are in Wellies,
Their trousers are all wet,
That we were ever young ourselves,
Is easy to forget!

© Baldock Bard 2012
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