The Rural Voice, 2004-05, Page 14FARM
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
Mabel's Grill
The
world's
problems
are
solved
daily
'round
the table
at
Mabel 's.
"Wouldn't you know it,"
grumbled George McKenzie the
other morning. "You finally get a
chance to plant a crop that will make
some money like soybeans this year
and you can't find the seed to plant."
"Oh please tell me you're planting
soybeans this year," said Molly
Whiteside as she delivered George's
coffee and toast. "I've been storing a
houseful of ladybugs and I want them
out. If you don't grow soybeans they
may decide to stay forever."
"Yes, aren't they terrible?" asked
Mabel as she leaned on the counter.
"I used to think they were cute little
things before there were so many in
my windows you can't see out. I
wish you soybean growers had left
well enough alone and not brought
those things in from Asia."
"Hey don't blame us," said Cliff
Murray. "It was the Americans who
brought them in."
"Too bad you couldn't close the
border on that import,": said Molly.
"Yeh, they give us Asian Long-
horn Beetles, Emerald Ash Borer and
West Nile Virus and then they're
always complaining about what we
might give them," said Dave Winston.
"Can you imagine if West Nile
had gone the other direction, from
here to there?" wondered Cliff.
"'they'd probably be demanding
compensation."
"Well I could use somebody to
help pick up the tab on how much
I've lost with this BSE thing," said
George.
"Maybe you should buy a lottery
ticket," said Molly. "Did you hear
about that farmer down country who
won $30 million? That should keep
him going for a while."
"Sort of like the old joke about the
farmer who won the lottery and said
he figured he'd just keep farming
until it was all gone," said Dave.
"But with $30 million it would be
hard to go broke even with farming."
"Yeh with that kind of money he
might even be able to afford to get
into chickens or milk," said George.
"You notice, though, that despite
the fact he said he was going to go on
farming, he just disappeared," said
Cliff. "Maybe he's smarter than he
looked."
"Well lotteries are fine but I think
I'd just as soon have one of those
jobs at Ontario Power Generation
where guys got more than $100,000
last year," said Dave. "I mean 4,000
out of 10,000 people working there
made at least $100,000!"
"Yes but they worked a lot of
overtime because of the blackout,"
said Molly.
"I worked a lot of overtime all
year 'round but nobody paid me any
hundred grand," said Dave.
"No wonder they had to raise the
Hydro rate," said George. "With that
many fat cats to feed we're going to
have to buy a lot of cream."
"I was down at that meeting in
Stratford about generating your own
power," said Cliff. " The place was
packed. From the turnout they had, I
guess the higher electricity prices
must be getting a lot of people
thinking about generating power."
"Hey, if I was to start generating
electricity you suppose I could pull
down $100,000?" wondered Dave.
"Only if you join the power -
workers union," said George.
"Look, you can grumble all you
want but I remember what it was like
to be without power back in
August," said Mabel. "I wasn't
making much money in this place 1
can tell you. It kinda puts those
salaries in perspective."
"That's what we need in farming
— a little perspective on the value of
food," said Cliff. "Wouldn't it be
nice if everyone could run out of
food for a couple of days to make
them appreciate us."
"Yeh, wouldn't it be nice do get
these high income earners over a
barrel and give them a choice
between paying us as much as they
get or starving," said George.
"I think you've got more chance
winning $30 million in the lottery
than that happening," said Dave.
"Even if you never buy a ticket."0