Daylight Savings time

Why can’t we get rid of Daylight Savings Time?

It saves nothing—not daylight and not energy.  Farmers hate it.

5 myths about daylight savings time

http://standardtime.com/proposal.html

http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1284701

Entering the fall back season

This is the time of year I dread; "spring forward, fall back" when Americans all get an extra hour of sleep. Tonight we change our clocks. My super organized hubbie will have them all changed by 7 p.m. tonight. I already wake up about 4 a.m. which is why you see such early times on my blogs and e-mails. Why would I want to get up at 3 a.m.? It used to take me about a week or so to adjust, now I don't adjust. I'll just be waking up at 3, changing rooms, turning on pbs and getting disgusted with all the nonsense that we pay for from government grants to support leftist film/docu losers. (PBS is the only channel that works in the guest room.)

Then it's my squirrely eating--as cold weather comes on, I get hungrier. But because its cold, I walk outside less. I lost about 20-30 lbs in the summer of 1960, it was my freshman 10 which grew during my sophomore and junior years. Dimples appeared where I'd never seen them. At that time I had a bit of a sweet tooth. I completely gave up candy and sweets and really had no problem with that until recently (salty snacks became my choice) when I discovered how tasty canned frosting was, and how much was left over after making brownies or a cake. Now I don't even wait to bake something; I just open the can.

Also this is consumer season squared at our house. Consumption drives 72% of the American economy, and most retailers make it on the Christmas season, even if political correctness keeps the word out of the ads. The catalogs--Harry and David, L.L. Bean, Cheap Joe's, FLW Foundation, etc. have been coming through the mail slot for a month. But it's worse at our house--from late October through Christmas we have three birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each year we say it won't be like last year's, but there are the homemade cards (one of my husband's paintings usually, but those aren't cheap to produce), the special seasonal gift appeals--all for good causes--like food pantry, Lutheran Social Services and Samaritan's Purse, a little bit of entertaining, eating out more, perhaps a drive to Indianapolis to visit family, the donations to our kids' IRAs, the presents from the catalogs that my husband buys for his relatives without letting me know (he loves surprises, I don't), and all those last minute sales that beckon. Really cuts into the resolve.

So how do you handle the season?

Unintended consequences of planning ahead

I've always been an early riser, and I go out and meet the folks about 6 a.m. at the coffee shop (different ones depending on the day). I even blog about it. Coffee Spills. But I also bring home the refill. For a long time, I just warmed it up to drink later; then I started saving some for the next morning. Then I started saving the whole thing for the next morning. Along came the "fall back" time change. Early risers hate this time of year (we love the "spring forward". Now we're waking up at 3:30 instead of 4:30. Lately, it's been 3 a.m. because I know that coffee is downstairs waiting for me. Even if I dawdle in the shower, take special care with my make-up and hair, and don't warm it up until 4:30, my mind at 3 a.m. knows it is calling, calling. Even the cat who likes to start smacking the window blinds around 4 a.m. thinks this is way to early for breakfast.

This morning I killed a little time trying to encourage sleepiness by shifting to the couch. I didn't want to watch Birdman of Alcatraz (when I was a veterinary librarian, I had his books in the collection), so I watched a cooking show on Food Network about another bird, the turkey, thinking it would put me to sleep. But I got caught up in the techniques. Aren't these TV chefs amazing? The eye and ear are not clever enough to determine how the chatter evolves seamlessly with the green bean casserole. I know it's the miracle of writing (are their writers on strike, too?) and editing, but it's the smoothness that amazes me. The tricky biscuit dough wreath rolled in cinnamon just appears on the sheet from rolling to cutting to placing in seconds, but her cheery, instructional voice doesn't change, her jeweled sweater doesn't have egg wash splashes, nothing sticks to the rolling pin, there's nothing under her fingernails, and strands of her long, blonde hair don/t appear in the gravy. The woman is amazing.