The "Thoughts On Changing The Clocks" Story

It was an ordinary day.  That was until I woke up and it was sunny outside my bedroom window.  For the past half year the sun had just begun to rise in the eastern sky when the cats began scratching at the bedroom door.  Feeding time so it meant that the sun was beginning to rise to greet the morning.  Well, today I heard a scratching at the door and when I checked the clock it was an hour earlier and no sunlight.  Then I remembered that we had reset the clocks the night before since daylight savings time was changing.  

So...how do you like changing the clocks twice a year?  I used to enjoy it, since I didn't have to drive to school in the dark in the winter, but now that I have retired from teaching I prefer leaving the clocks the same so I don't ruin my routine each day.  Exactly what is my routine you may wonder.  Well...I open the door for the two cats to have entrance into our bedroom, hit the bathroom, change clothes and go down the stairs to feed the two kitties. Then I head out to the end of the driveway to get my morning paper.  I have been doing that since we moved to our "beach house" over 20 years ago.  If you're not sure what I mean by "beach house", type that in the white space, top left and you will get the story.  Seems like we have just left Daylight Savings Time which means we will save ourselves more daylight by moving the clocks forward an hour.  Yes...it will get darker an hour early, but we will also be able to drive to work and head to school in daylight instead of darkness.  The idea was said to have been the brainstorm of Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but the idea was first advocated by London builder William Willett in the pamphlet, "Waste of Daylight" in 1907. He proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and retarding them by the same amount on four Sundays in September.  Now, you can believe what you want as to whom came up with the idea, but it still is tough for me to remember which month you move the clock forward and which month you move the clock backwards.  Seems there is always one clock that you forget to change.  Not only should you change the time on your clocks, but you should also replace the batteries in your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector.  Make sure to replace and test these devices twice a year.  You should also reverse the direction of your ceiling fans by making sure it turns clockwise in the Fall and counter-clockwise in the Spring.  Clockwise helps pull the air down to help cool the rooms.  You also should flip and rotate your mattresses to promote even wear and tear.  Also schedule a furnace inspection in the fall and air conditioning system in the spring.  Also remember to replace the filters in your heater and air conditioners to help them run more efficiently.  If you have a fireplace, schedule to have your chimney cleaned in both Fall and Spring and remember to clean out the fireplace and brush the walls inside the fireplace.  Drain your water heater of at lest one quart of water according to your owner's manual.  I go through our medicine cabinet and first-aid kit and make sure to discard expired or discolored products and then replace what I throw out.  Any pills or liquid prescriptions you should take to your nearby police station to dispose of them safely.  We also try to remember to go through our pantry and dispose of boxes, cans or bottles of food that has expired.  Someone told me it is also a good time to rotate my wardrobe, but I wear some items such as jeans and long-sleeve shirts year round so that wouldn't work for me.  Recently 19 states enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time which I'm not sure how that would work.  What will we do with TV stations and shows that are placed in specific time slots.  Will some watch a TV show at a time different than the person down the street who lives in a different state and will watch the show at a different time?   Daylight Savings Time was originally enacted during WWI as a way to conserve coal.  The Department of Transportation, which is in charge of changing the clocks, claims that the practice saves energy, prevents traffic accidents and curbs crime.  But, sleep experts claims is screws up everyones internal system.  Many believe we should have year-round Daylight Savings Time.  I guess I don't really care.  My only beef is that when we travel to a beach in the Caribbean for a few weeks and our time zones aren't the same, by the time I get accustomed to the new time zone, it is time to head back home again and do it all over again.  Well, Carol and I made all the changes this past weekend and the next morning the cats were totally confused.  We tried to explain the system to them, but I'm not sure yet if they understand.  For some reason they want to eat an hour earlier than they used to or is it an hour later than they used to? Perhaps if we fed them twice, but only half as much each time it would work out OK.  I told Carol she's in charge of that, as I rolled over and went back to sleep for an extra hour.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.