5:00 Fridays – Yard o’ Beer

Mac Daddy got a giant beer glass as a groomsman gift once. It’s totally apropos considering he and his buddies all hail from Wisconsin. The glass is cool and it was a rockin’ gift. I mean, there was a time we would have knocked back a yard of beer in one sitting and gotten off our lazy butts for round two. That’s back when we could actually stay up to ring in the new year and sleep in late to let our metabolism work its magic. That was before we had kids.

Nonetheless, Mac Daddy carefully wraps and packs that glass up every time we move. It squeaks its way into my kitchen cupboards in the same fashion his electric Smith Corona typewriter hides in the linen closet despite my attempts to donate it to a museum hailing the 1980s. Mac Daddy thinks his Great American Novel will be crafted on that behemoth, presumably while sipping a Sprecher Hefe Weiss out of that mega glass (or maybe a Light Ale since he, like me, is well, you know, getting older…ahem).

Well, I think I finally found a good use for that yard glass (but not the typewriter so let me know if you have any ideas). After we work in the yard doing whatever minimal maintenance it takes for our neighbors to not be totally grossed out by our brown thumbs, we like to cool off with a beverage. Funny that any time you use the word “beverage” everyone knows you mean alcohol. I mean no one refers to a Mr. Pibb or a half caf skinny latte as a “beverage.” Also, it must be noted, for the record, I do literally have brown thumbs. I am therefore absolved of any lawn faults. Nonetheless, we each do our part to weed, seed, feed, mow, pluck, trim, blah blah blah. I, clad in extra thick gardening gloves, lest I actually touch dirt. Mac Daddy going about his yard chores bare handed but not bare chested.

So when the North Carolina heat beats our brows, we reach for a brew. But considering it’s often noon or so, we like to lighten the beverage consumption so we don’t seem like lushes. I find that adding limeade makes everything reek of wholesomeness.

Yard o’ Beer

Good quality limeade (Simply Limeade for us, which I find aptly named)

Light beer or any beer you have that isn’t dark (Corona and Landshark are perfect for this concoction.)

Fill a glass (whatever size you choose) halfway with limeade. Finish off with beer. Divinely refreshing yet not potent enough to send you stumbling to a couch. The heat and yard work exhaustion will land you there in no time.

Cheers to a yard you can be proud of, no matter how you look at it.