Shawn+dawn=Lawn (not!)

I'm drinking a Budweiser.  I'm not particularly enjoying it, but it is a far cry better that the last 2 brews I've made myself.  Tomorrow Shawn and I will bottle and pig (a three gallon keg) the beer we made the second half of our tasting party on March 13.  I was at his house last weekend when he transferred it to the secondary fermentation tank.

It's a light summer ale with lemon  peels thrown into the mix.  I took a sip and it tasted like sunshine.  It had a cloudy orange hue at that time and it measured (Shawn figured), at 3.3-3.5% ABV and had just a slight refreshing lemon finish.  I want to give a bottle to each of the guys from the tasting. Hell, a 12 pack of it and let me at that chainsaw!

Did I mention that the bud isn't the first of the night?  I actually got out early tonight and the ever forgiving daylight hours even allowed me to give the dogs a walk in the evening..  The walk didn't last too long as we saw Shawn raking the lawn about 2 doors down.  He had his 2 labs, Tyson and Chip, out with him so we ended up doing a doggy drop-in, (it's kinda the canine version of a play-date).

He may be going away for the summer for work and among other things, he asked me if I was interested  in keeping a eye in his bees while he was gone.   Me?  In a bee suit?  Get me my camera!  Be prepared Nak, you may meet them yourself. (I think he has 2 bee suits).  With luck there'll be some lawnmower left too.

Speaking of... Beau, any ideas or dates of when you may be able to 'help" me this spring?  Things are bad at work, with a lot of people leaving, but if we go under, I may have a lot more free time, and my back yard could use some work.  You like bees too, right?  Three words:  Honey, Brown, Ale.  Or hop the hell out of it. I don't care.

I may need another bud but that may not be necessary as I've had some other "bud". I've got homework but I may be able to do it tomorrow after bottling, but maybe not.

Growing a part

I've been making a conscious effort to at least appear more grown up these days.  This stems from a comment from Kathy who more than once has referred to my unkempt appearance as "shabby".  Truth be told, I've never given much thought to my clothes and now looking at them I can see she has a point.  Most of my pants are frayed and tattered where the cuffs have been dragging the ground for so many years.  Either I've been shrinking over the years or my pants have just been riding too low below my beer belly.  I prefer to believe I've been shrinking.

Not being a fashion plate, I purchased some new (to me) pants at the local thrift store.  Going with the shrinking theory, I bought some about 2 inches shorter than I used to and wouldn't you know, they were still too long.  It goes to show the last time I bought pants for myself.  What I though was 2 inches shorter was actually the same size that I've been wearing into the ground (literally).  I wasn't about to throw away the $12 I spent on 3 pair of pants so I've just been giving them a generous cuffing and it seems to be doing the trick.

Another concern from Kathy has been my inability to "dress my age".  Comfort has always been key with me and since my job doesn't require any fancy dress-up clothes, my closet is mostly full of t-shirts decorated with the cartoon characters I love.  In an effort to grow up, I've started to add a selection of beer related t-shirts as well.  What could be more adult than a beverage you have to be over 21 to consume (legally), and if the shirt combines beer and cartoons, all the better.

So I've been reshaping myself from the ground up and now I get to one of my real problem areas, my head.  Although I'm not a ball player by any stretch of the imagination, I do like a good ball cap.  Not an especially grown up look.  As fate would have it, I recently found a pork pie style hat in the parking lot at work after an especially windy afternoon.  It looked nearly new but I wasn't taking any chances. I left it out in the rain for 2 days to rinse away any bad mojo and cooties from the previous owner.  When I did put it on it fit like a... hat.  It's blue so it works for most of my wardrobe and I've even added a couple pins (Krusty the Klown and Ralph Wiggums) to the hatband to truly make it mine.

Underneath the hat area is a problem that is really concerning me recently.  It's been decades since I've shared the mop top look of my cartoon visage but my hair has pretty much remained the same style as my father's for the last 20 years, standing up on it's own.  It's always been fine (not thin) and I've come to terms to the two receding bowling alleys flanking either side of my forehead.  What's bothering me is I seem to be developing a new mid-life part on the right side of my scalp.  I've never in my life had a part there or anywhere else for that matter and I'm perplexed by it's sudden and persistent appearance.  Is my body gearing up for a comb over?  Should I call the hair club for men? Should I get another hat?

Whatever is going on upstairs, I'm not going to let it bother me too much.  My philosophy has always been, no matter what I look like, at least I don't have to see it.