Green themes, and green shoes …
— As a prelude to St. Patrick’s Day in Bayport, bartender Ginger led the the green theme with a great big shamrock
medallion at the end of her necklace. Reminds of the largest silver cross I’ve ever seen, the size of a songbird, at the
end of some bling on a homeboy on a weekend at Dick’s Bar and Grill. Much like you’d see on the recent Fat Tuesday.
— As told by Green Mill bartender “Sketchy,” who also goes by other aliases: On the last St. Patrick’s Day it was in
the 80s — that’s temps not the decade — and he and his wife went sunbathing on Beer Car Island. He got a real good
burn, and that’s not from the kind of shots he dispenses.
— It also was the time of year for the Oscars, and two actresses wore virtually the exact same red glowing gown on the
Red Carpet, a similarity that was featured on daytime talk shows the following afternoon. Much like when guitarists Jeff
Loven and Geno wore the exact same green, Converse-style tennis shows one Sunday night. I asked Jeff later on the night
of the Oscars if he was nominated for anything, and he answered “not this year.”
— One of my favorite local pubs was out of the beer, Farmer’s Daughter, which happens to have a square top on top of
its tap. That meant there could be no signature plastic glass placed over the top to show it was unavailable; that would
be putting a square peg in a round hole, so to speak, so a small paper sign had to be made. Likewise when PBR went out,
and prompted me to blog a while back that those signature letters marked an attempt to put it in a different container,
hence Pabst Box Rendition. Or at this later time near bar time, maybe they actually stand for Personal Beer Rejection.
— St. Patrick’s Day started early at Green Mill, Wednesday to be exact, with specialty drinks extending through Sunday
such as the Kinky Wolfman, Candied Carmel Apple, Candy Bar Bulldog and Oatmeal Cookie. A party with deejay Dug E Fresh
was to follow on Sunday. One other creative drink name, Bob’s Little Leprechaun at Hefty’s in Bayport, makes one sigh at
the obnoxiousness of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (or is that Public Safety) and its anti-drunken driving
PSAs where a leprechaun gets pulled over for having a wee bit too much. Granted, we all want to keep drunks off the
road, but arresting one of the little people — except for possibly being underage or underheight — is really uncool.
— At Pudge’s Bar, the first place over the St. Croix River for off-sale liquor, bulk specials are being featured for all kinds of Irish fare including dark beer, as the Minnesotans they cater to will be suffering from the implications of the Gopher State being an off-sale dry state on St. Patrick’s Day, which is a Sunday.

— In the recent karaoke competition at the Bungelow Inn in Lakeland, one of the prime competitors afterward slow danced

his sweetie — all while singing Sinatra with a microphone positioned between their throats.