Daylight Savings

Dark

Half-past dark.

Dark thirty

Dark:30

Dark o’clock

Yep Pholks, it’s that time of year and unless you’ve screwed up and forgotten to adjust the clock, you are in the dark now quicker and longer than you’ve been used to.

If you moved the clock on the last weekend in October instead of this last weekend, the first one in November, you’ve been in the dark a little more than most pholks.

Annually, I complain about the end of Daylight Saving Time not because I’m afraid of the dark but simply because I prefer sunlight, long evenings and the other various benefits of light over dark.

This year has been a good one since Daylight Savings Time started earlier and lasted longer than in past years. Not that I really did anything very productive with the extra daylight, mind you, but I just like it. That’s just my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

If you recall, I’m an advocate of having a celebration for the official start of each season. No gift giving, parades, dressing up or special menus, just maybe a day off or a round of golf or whatever makes you happy.

Even with the longer DST period, there are things which signal that daytime is shorting and nighttime is getting longer. When the World Series is over, the NFL is at the halfway mark and basketball is gaining speed, there is no doubt that darkness is lurking and ready to make its move.

Most people believe DST was started to help farmers or because of WWI or WWII.

But generally farmers don’t really like it and in some cases have opposed it. Farmers do their work according to sun, not the clock and don’t like to have to alter their schedules to deal with those who start and stop their days with the clock. Getting supplies and sending their crops or animals to market by the clock is a pain.

Those who claim main reason for PST originally was WWI, when reducing the fuel and other energy for artificial lightening was a prime concern have got it right. Some states and communities continued to observe DST between the two great wars but it was not until WWII that it was observed nationally. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act provided the framework for switching from Standard Time to DST and since then, lawmakers have messed with the issue several times.

Since 1986 and until this year, DST began at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in April and ended at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.

I have appreciated the longer DST this year and support keeping it that way. I’ll just have to live with the longer nighttime hours for a few months as I anticipate it starting again next spring, which is just around the corner—isn’t it?

SPEAKING OF ANTICIPATION, I have to tell you pholks that my anticipated visit from my sorta cousin Isabella, the Gypsy, didn’t happen. When she didn’t show up for Halloween, I was able to make contact and learned that she had a higher priority this year. Isabella is trying out for the upcoming “American Idol” competition. She thinks her belly dancing skills, along with her charming smile and “good looks” might pay off big time. I’m not going to be involved in any of this. I’ll just wait to see what shakes out and wish her luck.

LUCK, AS FAR AS PUMPKIN ROLLING GOES, didn’t shake out for me last weekend. In my hometown of Knight’s Ferry, the 44^th Annual Pumpkin Roll was a huge success with a big crowd, lots of competitors and lots of phun. Although quite a few men older than me entered the men’s competition, I figured my odds were better in the senior roll.

Only a half dozen senior men lagged pumpkins down a marked-off course on Main Street and only one, or maybe two, stayed on the course. I had great speed on the pumpkin, but the sucker veered out of bounds right near the end. I failed to win another World Champion, Senior Division trophy to go with the one I won a couple years ago so I will have to wait another year to try to complete my set of trophy bookends.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com