Deck Beers and the BBQ Is On

June in Medicine Hat has one gear and it is hot. Not warming up, not easing in. One week you need a jacket and then suddenly it is 32 degrees and the summer is just fully here.

The pool comes out. The BBQ gets used because nobody is turning the oven on. The cooler appears and the dogs find the coolest place to lay.

The deck becomes the evening spot. Landon starts the BBQ. Then he sets up the umbrella for me because I look at the sun and burn. He has the kind of skin that tans. I try not to hold it against him.

The dogs bark at the neighbors. We tell them to stop. They don't stop.

I make a caesar. Landon gets a Moosehead lime and salt. I find a spot for the candle high enough that nobody's tail gets it, and sit down. Echo Dale is the one I reach for because it smells like summer is actually here: sunscreen and lime and something cool in your hand, with enough coconut husk and salt underneath that it never tips into sickly sweet. I read outside instead of inside. At some point I get in the pool and get out again. Landon stays in.

Eventually he gets out, the BBQ gets done, and we retreat inside to the AC for the night. It's perfect!