“I may take the snowblower off the tractor this afternoon,” said Dave Winston as he sat down at     Mabel’s Grill, one warmer-than-normal morning recently.
    “Well, if anything can change the weather, that’s it,” chuckled Cliff Murray, as he perused the menu, trying to figure what he wanted for breakfast.
    “Hey, I’m always wrong, no matter what,” sighed Dave. “Back in November we got that snow storm before I barely got the corn off, so I didn’t have it on. So I put it on but then the snow all went away so I took it off so I could take some wagon-loads of corn to the elevator. Then we got that huge blow at Christmas and I could hardly find the barn among the drifts so I put it back on and I used it about two days, then it got mild and it all started to melt again.”
    “Well I like it like this,” chimed in a cheerful Molly Whiteside, who arrived to take their orders in time to hear most of Dave’s speech. “I didn’t even need my winter boots to come to work today. So, what can I get you lads?”
    “Makes me think of spring,” said Cliff. “I think I’ll have pancakes with maple syrup and peameal bacon.”
    “I’d have that,” grumbled  George Mackenzie, “except the price has gone up so much I can’t afford it.”
    “Well it’s unfortunate there’s so few breakfast dishes with beef!” grouched Dave. “You raise the cattle it’s made from so you should be fine with that, even if the price is sky-high!”
    “I’m not making money on beef!” George exclaimed. “With the cost of feed so high I’m barely breaking even.”
    “Alright, let’s not get into a fight before we’ve even ordered,” Molly interceded. “Maybe you could just have the pancakes without the pork.”
    “I’d still be paying more!” grumbled George. “Everything is more expensive.”
    “Don’t you grow wheat for the pancakes?” wondered Molly. 
    “You want pancakes, I’ll buy you pancakes, with bacon” sighed Dave.
    “Huh, the price of lamb must be high,” said Dave, though he mumbled so he couldn’t be heard clearly.
    “No, I’ll just have eggs — no bacon,” sighed George.
    “I’ll have eggs and sausages — even if the price of pork’s high,” grumbled Dave.
    “Got it,” said Molly, “and I’ll get out of here quick before we get into any other complaints about food.”
    “Now might be a good time to talk about that fuss on television over the $37 chicken at the Loblaws store,” chuckled Cliff. “I don’t see any chicken growers in here this morning so we can complain without anybody getting upset.”
    “Good grief! $37? Really?” grumbled George.
    “Well it was skinless, boneless and organic,” said Cliff.
    “You’d need to be royalty to pay that much!” said George.
    “Well Prince Harry can afford it, what with all the money he and Meghan made on TV and his book flowing off the shelves,” said Dave. “I saw something on TV about one bookstore that must have had a few hundred copies on one table.”
    “You’ve got to be royalty to make so much money complaining about your family,” said George. 
    “I’d love to hear the conversations that are going on behind the walls at Buckingham Palace” chuckled Cliff. “The rest of the family will probably blame it all on Harry hooking up with Meghan.”
    “There’s probably a fair bit of talk about her being American,” said Dave.
    “Yeah, and then all that money going into the U.S. economy,” said George.
    “I wonder if Harry and Meghan go to the coronation of his father after all this, and what will be said,” chuckled Cliff.
    “Well here you are, gentlemen”, said Molly when she arrived with the plates, “breakfast fit for a king!”  She must have wondered at the strange looks that went back and forth among the others.◊