Farmer makes manure valentine for his wife

ALBERT LEA, Minn., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A Minnesota farmer's wife has received a valentine possibly only a farmer's wife could appreciate -- a half-mile-wide heart outlined in cow manure.

Bruce Andersland spent hours with a manure spreader hitched to his tractor Wednesday and Thursday creating the heart, the Albert Lea Tribune, Minn., reported. It is in a square-mile field 12 miles outside of Albert Lea that has belonged to his family for 87 years.

Once he finished the job, Andersland hired a pilot to take a picture of the heart from the air, the only place to see it properly.

Beth Andersland, who has been married to Bruce for 37 years, found out what her husband was up to Wednesday night when she found the design of the heart, complete with arrow, on a piece of scrap paper in his jacket pocket. She told the Tribune the valentine is the biggest she has ever received.

"He thinks of cute things to do once in a while, so I was a little surprised," she said.

Beth Andersland raises purebred Simmental cattle so she is familiar with manure. She said snow mixed with the manure made the valentine somewhat lighter -- although it also provided a light background.