hearts and flowers

Today was a great Valentines Day. My wife went to Salisbury with a girlfriend to go look at horsey stuff. So I just dinked around all day. I took care of her five dogs. Letting them in and out. My dog just stays with me all the time. I told him it was Valentines Day. He was not impressed. Then I said, "Jake, what time is it"? He barked out the answer. "Now! now! now!" We walked around looking at our new pseudo pavement. Don't ever listen to a smooth talking country Eastern Shore Delaware guy who says he's been asphalting at the neighbors and boy can he "give you a deal" while he and his crew and equipment are here. I spent a lot of money I didn't have. And during a depression. It's called pseudo pavement because it's not a complete blacktop job. It's recycled asphalt. Called "cold mix" or "cold pour". It's basically like putting down gravel. But after it's rolled it looks pretty good. He quoted me a price on doing my runway. 2500 ft. 50 ft. wide. "Fifty Thousand". But the cold pour is soft and crumbly and it wouldn't work for landings. You need the full blacktop which would cost 4 or 5 times that. Don't worry my friends. I would never pave my runway even if I had the money. So we paved the driveway. It's been a two-track since the wagons made it around 1910. The smooth talking guy with the cowboy hat told me I didn't need a permit. So Jake and I walked on the new driveway. Wife came home. They had eaten at "Outback". I figured she wouldn't want to go out again for a Valentine date with her husband. But she eats like a bird and we went out to Seaford. All the restaurants were crowded. We did get seated at a very elegant place called Ihop. We spent 24 bucks. But the big night wasn't over. Oh no. We went to this store named "Roses". "Roses" is a few steps below the dollar stores. "Roses" makes Wal-Mart look like Neiman Marcus. But I love "Roses". Since I hadn't gotten wife a Valentine, and we had to drive right past..... I begged her to let us go to Roses. She said OK, but with conditions. First, she would not go in. She would wait in the car. Second, I was not to get her a card, or candy. I ran into Roses. They were closing. I bought a little white stuffed puppy dog, an LED flashlight, and a box of cookies. She claims that all three gifts suit her very much, especially the puppy. We rode home and onto the newly pseudo- paved driveway. We agreed this had been a fine date. I was making some tea and she took a call from her sister. She spoke and spun her office chair around to face me as I looked in on her. "Oh yes, Lloyd got me a Valentine gift. It was "Roses".