Gifts For Dad

They are hard to shop for the way most of us keep shopping for them, which is another tie and another device with a charging cable he will lose by March. Here is the thing about a man's wall: he usually did not pick what is on it. Somebody decorated around him and he agreed to it, the way he agrees to most decorating. Give him a square foot that is entirely his.

Most of what he wants is in the beer aisle of this collection: the Lone Star Can and the nine-can grid, Pearl Bottle Last Light, Miller High Life, Coors Banquet, and Shiner at Gruene Hall for the man who has actually stood on that floor. Then the music he defends: Willie's mugshot, the outlaw poster, Stevie Ray, Townes Van Zandt, Sir Doug Sahm. There is barbecue with a real address, Angelo's in Fort Worth and County Line in Austin, a Tom Landry quote for the Cowboys household, and the Arrow Ford Abilene sign for anyone who grew up out that way. The ranch work is the sleeper: Carl Crum's JY Crum Rancher, Tin Top Quarter Horses, the steer tripping print, and the Cutter Bill matchbook, all drawn from a family that did the work rather than watched it. If he takes nothing seriously, there is the rooster telling him to go ahead and be cocky.

Practical questions

I do not know what he drinks. Then buy the place, not the can. Gruene Hall, Angelo's, the Abilene Ford sign. Geography is a safer bet than brand loyalty, and it starts a better story when somebody asks.

What size works in a garage or an office? Above a workbench or a bar, 18x24 reads from across the room. Desks and shelves take 11x14. A row of three beer cans at 8x10 looks intentional and fills a narrow wall.

Is it framed? No, it arrives unframed in standard sizes, so a hardware-store frame fits and he can hang it the day it shows up.

He has enough ties. He does not have enough art. Start with man cave decor, add the Texas beer prints he will pretend he likes ironically, and keep bar cart art in mind for the corner he has already claimed.