#82 Time Wars And Purse Accidents

Nov 04, 2024

Well, it’s that time of year again.

As one meme making its way around the internet put it so well last week:

“Don’t forget to set your clocks from sunshine and happiness back to misery and despair this weekend.”

Which is a little unfair actually.

Because, while I despise watching the sun go down at teatime rather than suppertime (on the shortest day of the year, December 20, I and many other northerners will see actual sunset at 4:20 p.m.) it’s a bit harsh to blame the concept of daylight savings for what is actually just plain old planetary-tilt-induced sunshine deprivation.

The truth is, regardless of the information we get from whatever little time pieces we’ve created to track a mostly made up thing, the daylight bits of the days are just shorter.

But that “daylight savings” part of things seems to make a lot of folks really mad.

It especially seems to make folks in Indiana mad.

They’ve been fighting a little war on time, and clocks, for over one hundred years. (You can read all about it here – it even has its own Wikipedia page).

If you’d rather not follow the link down that rabbit hole, just know that there’s the bit where not all of the state is in the same time zone (twelve counties are on Central Time while the rest of the state observes Eastern Time) and there’s the part where large portions of the state (and even the whole state) have, at times, flat out refused to comply with daylight savings time.

As a former Hoosier I can tell you this played merry hell with visits to my grandparents and left me with a still lingering confusion as to exactly what time it ever is “back home”.

All this clock changing nonsense holds no quarter with my dogs. Who relentlessly paw my side of the bed as soon as they feel it’s time to go out for their morning wee.

The fact that this used to mean I could sleep in until seven, and now have to haul my carcass up at six, does not please me.

The dogs do not care.

I don’t much enjoy starting my day by stepping on urine soaked carpet so I guess that means they get to call the shots.

Fun And Games

The Gamble Is Paying Off

The big ol’ Brandywine tomato has begun to blush. Highs at or above the 60° F mark this week are predicted by the weather app so I’m resisting the urge to pick the thing right now…

Inside The Marriage Of Two Comedy Writers

Speaking of weather, here’s a glimpse into a real-life recent morning.

We both check the weather apps on our phones as we try to plan our day. Mine says rain in 10 minutes. His shows rain in 2 hours.

Me: “Stupid weather apps! Which is it?”

His response: “Maybe it’s only supposed to rain on your side of the bed.”

The Confusion Continues

My tomatoes are not the only things in the garden that think it’s July. Both the lavender and the canna lilies should be well and truly hibernating by now.