“You guys got your plans for Groundhog Day?” Molly Whiteside asked as she passed out the menus at Mabel’s Grill for breakfast the other morning.
“Huh! With all the snow we’ve had this winter, it will be a miracle if a groundhog can dig his way out,” Dave Winston grumbled.
“And given the weather, what are the chances he’s going to be able to see his shadow,” grouched George MacKenzie.
“You guys are no fun at all,” Molly complained. “Do you ever watch the movie Groundhog Day?”
“I keep telling my wife that we might be related to Bill Murray - you know, who stars in the movie,” laughed Cliff Murray.
“That’s the problem,” Dave piped up. “My wife is never a fan of Bill Murray and watching him over and over again as he repeats Groundhog Day is more than she can take.”
“Well, I guess at most Bill’s a distant relative,” chuckled Cliff.
“My Dad used to read Bill Smiley when he wrote a column in most of the rural newspapers,” George said. “He talked about how a bunch of the guys hanging around the local bar in Wiarton, when he was teaching there, came up with the idea of having a Groundhog Day, like the one they have down in Pennsylvania. And it will be 70 years ago this year since they had the first one.”
“Well at least those guys understood how to have a little fun in the middle of winter,” said Molly, who took their orders and headed to the kitchen to give them to Mabel.
“Any of you guys planning a winter vacation?” wondered Cliff.
“Not in our family. I mean with Donald Trump on the rampage who wants to go to Florida or Arizona and with his attack on Venezuela you have to be careful even going to one of the islands.”
“You guys just can’t help picking on Trump, can you?” grumbled George.
“Poor guy,” Cliff chuckled. “Who’d ever know he was a billionaire in charge of the most powerful country on the planet.”
“You know what Mabel says about not talking politics,” Dave warned. “You better keep your voices down.”
George’s cellphone rang.
“Oh it’s just my wife,” he said after looking at the screen. “She can wait until I finish breakfast.”
“Did you see how much time kids are wasting on their phones?” Cliff asked. “One survey shows kids 11-14 years old are spending nine hours a day on their phones.”
“Maybe that explains why I can’t get my kids to help with the chores,” Dave grumbled.
“Well they won’t find much reason for helping out on the farm on their cellphone,” said George. “On the internet it’s as if farmers don’t exist. Everything’s about the towns and cities.”
Molly arrived back with their orders, then went to get the coffee pot to refill their cups.
“So you’re planning on ignoring Groundhog Day,” she said. “That leaves lots of time to plan for Valentine’s Day.”
“Who needs time,” George wondered. “I wake up in the morning, hear them talking on the radio about Valentine’s Day, come in here for breakfast, then stop in at the flower shop to buy some roses for my wife.”
“And if you don’t have the radio on you won’t even buy the flowers,” Molly sighed.
“I’m sure you guys will remind me,” George said.
“As long as Valentine’s Day isn’t on a Saturday or Sunday when we’re not in here,” Dave said.
“Well my wife doesn’t like roses so I save by buying carnations, instead,” Cliff said. “Makes it easier when the price of lamb goes down.”
Molly shook her head slowly as she filled the last coffee cup. “You guys are just so romantic. I mean what if they run out of flowers?”
“I suppose a Valentine’s dinner in here would keep the wife happy,” George smirked.◊