Mucking out the barn

[Cavalry Scout]

My lass took this today when we were out cleaning the barn.

[Liam]

That should help break in the new balmoral!

[OC Richard]

There's a song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fvQMzW0tnQ

The words go by fast, so here they are


At a relic aul'croft upon the hill,
Roon the neuk frae Sprottie's mill,
Tryin' a' his life tae jine the kill
Lived Geordie MacIntyre

He had a wife a swir's himsel'
An' a daughter as black's Auld Nick himsel',
There wis some fun-haud awa' the smell
At The muckin' o' Geordie's byre.

chorus: For the graim was tint, the besom was deen,
The barra widna row its leen,
An' siccan a soss it never was seen
At the muckin' o Geordie's byre

For the daughter had to strae and neep
The auld wife started to swipe the greep
When Geordie fell sklite on a rotten neep
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre,

Ben the greep cam' Geordie's soo
She stood up ahint the coo
The coo kickit oot an' o whit a stew
At the muckin' o' Geordies byre.

For the aul' wife she was booin'doon
The soo was kickit on the croon
It shoved her heid in the wifie's goon
Then ben through Georide's byre.

The daughter cam thro the barn door
An' seein' her mother let ooot a roar,
To the midden she ran an' fel ower the boar
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre,

For the boar he lap the midden dyke
An' ower the riggs wi' Geordie's tyke.
They baith ran intill a bumbee's byke
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre,

O a hunder' years are passed an' mair
Whaur Sprottie's wis, the hill is bare;
The croft's awa' sae ye'll see nae mair
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre

His folks a' deid an' awa' lang syne-
In case his memory we should tyne,
Whistle this tune tae keep ye in min'
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre-

It's much more majestic on the pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBsIIkY-olg

And for those with a musicological bent, the melody of the first section is the same as that of the first section of Westering Home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vypaxyJmTbo

[Cavalry Scout]

OC Richard, That song is brilliant, and it fits perfectly. My wife's name is Jeffrey, so even that works in the title. I'm sharing it on her Facebook page!

Cheers,
Mark

[Tobus]

LOL. Mucking the barn is one place where I won't wear a kilt. I did that once. Let's just say I had dust and dirt in places where I don't care to have dust and dirt. I bed my stalls with river sand, which turns into a fine powder over time and it billows up everywhere. Moving bales of hay tends to get bits of hay stuck in the fabric that's very difficult to get out.

[neloon]

There are versions of "The muckin' o' Geordie's byre" that are several hundred verses long and generally sung by rugby teams on the way home from matches. Obviously the words and storylines are what one might expect of rugby players
More seriously, the song is typical of a genre called "cornkisters" that were sung by farmworkers in the Northeast as they relaxed in the bothy of an evening sitting on the cornkists. They were generally about farm life - usually how awful it was and how the singer couldn't wait for next six-month feein mairket when he might be able to change farms.
Alan

[Cavalry Scout]

LOL. Mucking the barn is one place where I won't wear a kilt. I did that once. Let's just say I had dust and dirt in places where I don't care to have dust and dirt. I bed my stalls with river sand, which turns into a fine powder over time and it billows up everywhere. Moving bales of hay tends to get bits of hay stuck in the fabric that's very difficult to get out.

I have a kilt apron for chores that might get stuff stuck in the wool. I saw a photograph on one of the threads of a farrier who was wearing his kilt whilst he shoed a horse. It sort of inspired me, because I'd always thought of kilts as more or less a dress garment. I'm fortunate to have several, so two are reserved for casual and formal occasions, and the rest I wear for whatever I happen to be doing.

Cheers, Mark

[Alan H]

I thoroughly approve of this photograph.

[IsaacW]

I agree with Alan above. I wholeheartedly approve!