“We got the last of our corn off just before the first snow of the year,” Dave Winston told the other guys as they sat down at Mabel’s Grill for breakfast the other morning.
“That’s one thing that was good about this year,” said George MacKenzie. “Remember the years when we had to combine in the spring?”
“Those must have been good winters for the mice – able to have corn to choose from all winter long,” said Cliff Murray.
The conversation ended with the arrival of Molly Whiteside with the menus.
“Have you guys noticed how early the Christmas ads started on TV this year?” she wondered. “I mean we’d barely put the jack o’lanterns away when they had ads for Christmas for Swiss Chalet and The Brick.”
“The thing that got me were the Black Friday ads” said Dave. “I mean it’s not even a Canadian thing but all these stores started advertising Black Friday sales early in November.”
“And who even wants to go shopping in the U.S. these days?” Molly added. “I mean, first they’ve got to let you cross the border, which apparently is more difficult than ever, and then you have to worry about being kidnapped by Customs and Immigration!”
“I thought Mabel didn’t want you talking about politics,” Cliff said.
“You’re right,” Molly admitted, dropping her voice to a whisper.  “Forget I said anything.”
“It’s already forgotten,” grumbled George, who the others had seen getting worked up and ready to defend Donald Trump’s policies.
Molly collected their orders and menus and headed back to pass on instructions to Mabel.
“I wonder if the stores started advertising early because they think people are going to have less money to spend on Christmas” Dave said. “I mean the cost of everything is up.”
“Yeah, I remember them saying on the TV that the price of nearly all groceries is up,  particularly beef.”
“All right, let’s quit bashing beef,” George grumbled. “I mean the reason beef prices are as high as they are is that so many people quit the business because for years they were losing money raising cattle.”
There was a few seconds of silence after George’s defense of beef farmers. Then Cliff opened a new topic when he said: “I sure hope we get a different winter than last year!”
“You aren’t kidding,” added Dave. “I only got somebody to fix my eavestrough a month or so ago. We had so much snow hanging off the eaves last year that it pulled the eavestrough right off.”
“Well I probably helped the economy of Alberta with the extra gas I used blowing out my lane and my barnyard so the cattle could get outside,” said George.
“It was good for the companies that make snowblowers, too,” said Dave. “I’ll bet I put a few extra years of wear and tear on my snowblower clearing all that snow around the barn so I could get trucks in to haul away my market hogs.”
“Are you guys complaining about last winter?” asked Molly as she came back to refill their coffee cups. “My kids thought it was great – although I think they just about wore out their sleighs on the hill in the park.”
“Oh to be a kid again,” sighed Cliff. “Back when winter was fun instead of a extra work.”
“And the days off school when the school bus got cancelled,” said Molly. “Although it was a lot more fun for the kids than for me trying to find a babysitter on short notice.”
“My Dad told me how the weather was really terrible back in the seventies,” George remembered. “They had to get bulldozers one year to open the roads.”
“Well I don’t mind having climate change if we don’t have any more winters like last year,” Molly said.
“So do you think we’ve had climate change since the seventies?” Cliff asked George slyly. George pretended to sip his coffee and didn’t answer.◊