The Dog Days of Valentine's

I now host the world’s shortest morning show…at 90-minutes, if you blink, you miss it. 6:00a to 7:30a is not much time, but it’s enough to give you enough information for a head start on everyone else. So while the other guys are re-hashing their weekend antics, or discussing their love lives (or lack of it) we’ll give you insights from Washington and New York, London and Tokyo, or Austin and Dallas.

Okay—fair warning: Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.

Depending upon whom you ask, the average price tag for the day will be $113.00 Not surprisingly, guys spend more than gals this time of year, a ratio of $145:$81. According to a survey by Brand Keys, when you’re young and in love, you spend more moolah. The 18-34 age group is the most generous to their objects d’affection. Brand Keys estimates Valentines Day spending is the third-largest retail date on the calendar, behind Christmas and Easter.

For those of you who’ve been keeping up, we’ve just had an addition to the family at The Clanton Hacienda. My daughter has been waging an all-out, full-court press to wangle a puppy. I said no, not in a million years. She pouted for six weeks. It got pretty sticky.

Over the weekend, she bought her cousin a one-hour massage for her birthday. And to show her appreciation, my niece presented my daughter with a puppy. A Yorkie Terrier, 2-months old, and just enough dog to know one’s around, yet not large enough to intimidate my bride, who has now become the dog’s second-biggest fan in the household.

So my daughter didn’t defy me…but she didn’t say, “no,” when the opportunity was presented.

No Valentines for my niece!