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Daylight Savings Time starts next weekend ! Happy ? I am.

Yvonne Smith

Yvonne Smith

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 27, 2025
Messages
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Here in the United States, Daylight Savings Time starts on March 9th this year. There has been a lot of discussion about whether it should be made permanent or not. From what I have been reading, it seems like it is about equal of the people who want DST year around, and the people who want Standard Time year around. What none of us seem to want is the changing back and forth twice each year.
I think that I would prefer it to be DST year around because of the longer daylight in the afternoons, but either way would actually be better than the changing back and forth.
Which do you prefer, or do you like changing every few months like we have been doing for so many years ?
 
Since we are retired and do not have to be at work or anywhere at all certain time (on most days) , it really does not matter to us either, what the exact hour is , usually. It just seems like we have more daylight in the winter when the sun goes down so early anyway. Whichever they do will work for us, but I will not miss changing back and forth if they choose one or the other and keep it that way.
 
Susannah said:
Changing doesn’t bother me as much as it does some people but I think it will go to one set time eventually.

Will some still complain twice a year because it doesn’t change? :ROFLMAO:
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It bothers me somewhat as when it changed last time, my sleep pattern went backwards and it hasn’t been the same since. I’ve been awake an hour or two later every night lately.
 
They are still talking in Congress about making Daylight Savings Time permanent, or stopping it altogether, so we only have standard time year around. I do not think that they will have made that decision before next weekend when we change to DST; but it is quite likely that they will have made a decision by next fall when it would change back to standard time again.
With the warmer weather starting to happen, too, I am looking forward to the longer daylight in the afternoon hours.
 
We have an ancient/ partially programmable electric clock in the bedroom.
Why we keep it is something I really never thought a lot about until now but maybe, since it is old and we are old, there’s some type of subconscious reluctance when it comes to causing its demise quicker than its scheduled to be. Dunno.

The problem is, as I mentioned earlier, it is only partially programmable which means that someone, in a fit of highly inspired intelligence, decided to permanently pre-set the time changes, not realizing that the dates do not stay the same for each year that passes by.
So, when it comes time for us to “spring ahead” the clock has already done so a few day to a couple of weeks prior to the actual event. The same goes for the “fall behind” season.

Now, one would not think that it’s really a big deal because the solution would be to just change the clock when it is has incorrectly decided to impose a time change that won’t happen for a week or so.
Alas, pity upon this gentleman for wanting the old adage, “even a clock is right twice a day” to be true all the time but my queen suggests that we simply ignore the chronological mechanism until such time as reality checks in and it is finally correct again, which is what I do.

There is a good part to all of this:
When my own biologically aging system wakes me up at 0300 for a run to the donniker but the electric clock says that is 0400, for a moment, I think that I finally got that extra hour of sleep.

Post Script: As for the topic of the thread, whatever they do in Congress, just do it and quit wasting time and money talking about time. Just do it.
By the looks of some of our Congress people, the only time change they’re fully conscious of is when it is time to change their adult diapers.
 
When @Bobby Cole says that our bedroom clock is ancient, he means it is one of those 1970-era wood grain bedroom clocks. It has the AM/FM radio, and 2 alarms to set so that both husband and wife can wake up on time and get to work. There is no dimmer on the readout, so it blares the time in bright neon green numbers all night long. (I have one of those eye masks thingies to wear at night, which blocks it out)
But, at least we pretty well can operate it, and Mr. Bobby can change the time when he wants to; so it is probably better than getting a new clock and learning how to work it, at our age.
This is similar to ours, except ours has a green time readout. IMG_0194.jpeg
 
The problem I can see with keeping DST all year is at Christmas time. When it is dark, like at midnight, at 5PM, places can turn on and show off their Christmas lights. With DST, it would stay light too long to do that. Many drive-thru Christmas Light displays start at 5PM, like the one we went to last December. However, for our age bracket (early Baby Boomers and older), it can be much easier to drive in daylight than in darkness. There are those that can see much better in daylight than they can in darkness.
 
We are definitely changing to DST this weekend. After that, it is hard to tell yet. President Trump is trying to get an idea what most Americans want to do , and he said that so far, it seems like it is about 50-50 for and against keeping DST or standard time. I imagine we will be finding out more over the summer, and do whatever is going to happen (if anything) this fall.
We have had the time change every year for as long as I can remember, so it is quite possible that we will just keep on changing back and forth twice each year.

One place I lived, the pastor of our neighborhood church had a dairy farm, as well as worked at a store in town, so he had to change when he liked the cows spring and fall also. The poor cows had no idea what it was all about. In the fall they got milked early in the morning, and in the fall, they had to wait an extra hour at night , standing out in the corral, mooing at the farmer.
A large dairy might not have to go through this each time, and just milked as usual, but because our pastor had a regular job where he had to be on time, he had to change everything for the cow’s milking schedule to align with his job schedule.
 
I just want them to keep the same time year around. Most people like the daylight time, which is fine with me. I hate the change. It never made sense to me to have an hour more of daylight in the summer and then take it away in the winter. Great for evening summer recreators, but hard on outdoor working people when the winter change came. The problem for ranchers and farmers, is their livestock lives by the light and dark, not a clock.
 
It should be the same for the entire year, as Samantha said. It's a nuisance, all this clock changing.
 
So….the time changed. Quietly. Whilst I was sleeping. Like a thief in the night who instead of looking for a material bounty, took an hour of my life.
Of course, one might endeavor to rationalize that in 6 or so months, time will change again and the hour I lost will miraculously reappear and be given back to me.
But, what if I meet my demise before then? Will that lost hour be bequeathed to someone else or be lost as a sock disappears in the dryer.
If someone does get my extra hour, I wonder if they will use it wisely?

The digital clock in the bedroom didn’t change nor did the analog clock in the living room or the one on the porch.
It would appear that the aforementioned clocks seem to understand that humans need a consistent feed of facts. An anchor of truth as it were.
Alas, when I woke up at 0310, my brain knew it was 0310, the clocks verified that it was 0310 but when I finally got to my computer and the clock said it was 0420,..?
The problem with the whole scenario is that on an ordinary day, if I get up at 0310, by 0420 I would have finished off a pot of coffee but on this morning, I hadn’t had my first cup yet. What happened to my pot of coffee and why am I not awake yet?

A NOTE TO CONGRESS: Leave the bloody time alone and give me back that hour of my life you stole and where the heck is that pot of coffee I should have had by now?
 
Cody Fousnaugh said:
Got up this AM and changed all of the clocks. Only clock to change now is in the vehicle.
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Good for you, Cody ! Bobby is the clock changer in our family, except for the ones that change on their own. We don’t use the radio in the truck, so we never even think about changing the clock in there. Of course, we are always wearing our Apple Watches , so we don’t even need any other clocks , for the most part.
I am glad that we have the longer afternoon daylight now, and with the warmer weather finally getting here, we will both be spending more time outside.
It is going to be warm enough to put away the heave winter clothing pretty soon and take out some of the shorts and tee-shirts for summer.
 
MamaFrankie said:
It should be the same for the entire year, as Samantha said. It's a nuisance, all this clock changing.
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It also messes with productive. There isn't an extra hour gained, since an hour is lost in the morning. Anyone that likes a lot of summer daylight hours, should move to Alaska and celebrate with the huge mosquitos that inhabit the Land of the Midnight Sun.
 
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Cody Fousnaugh said:
The problem I can see with keeping DST all year is at Christmas time. When it is dark, like at midnight, at 5PM, places can turn on and show off their Christmas lights. With DST, it would stay light too long to do that. Many drive-thru Christmas Light displays start at 5PM, like the one we went to last December. However, for our age bracket (early Baby Boomers and older), it can be much easier to drive in daylight than in darkness. There are those that can see much better in daylight than they can in darkness.
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Good point that the extra daylight afternoon hour would be better, for afternoon driving, during the winter solstice time. A big advantage for delivery people like UPS and Fed Ex that deliver residences hours after dark. It would be a disadvantage for kids going to school. As far as Christmas light displays, it would be easy to start them an hour later.
 
Samantha Dee said:
It also messes with productive. There isn't an extra hour gained, since an hour is lost in the morning. Anyone that likes a lot of summer daylight hours, should move to Alaska and celebrate with the huge mosquitos that inhabit the Land of the Midnight Sun.
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When I worked in the Aleutians (Ekuk), since I worked 12-16 hours a day, I did enjoy the nearly 24 hour sunlight and the ability to go out before and after work to hunt for amber along Bristol Bay.

As far as the mosquitos go, yeah, they are huge and when they swarm, they have been known to suffocate large animals like cows and bears by clogging their noses and throats.
Luckily, swarms along the Bay aren’t real common due to the breezes that almost continually traverse through the area. That said, individual mosquitoes are a painful nuisance and one learns how to cover up even in 80 degree temperatures and budget one’s money to include a box of OFF.
 
Time changes, health wise, for many older seniors, like ourselves, isn't too much fun. I had somewhat more shoulder and stomach pain yesterday than I generally do. However, when it comes to driving in the evening, it sure is nicer to drive in the extra daylight than feeling like you're driving at midnight. My wife, more than myself, can't drive that much in darkness anymore. When it's really dark, like during the "Fall-Back" winter months, it's extremely difficult for us to drive in a very fast-paced area. I drive with "caution". IOW, not to fast, but not too slow either. The young folks here don't know what the word "caution" means on freeways.
 
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