Tuesday, March 10, 2015

WHAT TIME IS IT ANYWAY?


Rural Asotin County, where we sometimes walk the dogs

Here it is again – a shift in time. Mike decided to tackle the big change-over at suppertime Saturday night (time on his hands?) so that he wouldn’t have to do it on Sunday. Some clocks are easier to change than others. Two or three are the old “adjust the hands” models of yesteryear. My bedside clock/docking station has a little +/- button on the back –handy for those twice-yearly time changes. Others, like the stove, are user friendly. But quite a number of our electronic models are challenging to change, perhaps just because we can’t remember how.

Actually, Mike greets DST with gusto. He likes a good long afternoon in which to play – er – accomplish his outdoor tasks. I just think it’s a nuisance to keep changing, especially since we’ve come to the point that we’re only on standard time four months of the year.

I get up at 6:30 and it seems early, and yet before long the school bus goes by, and when I look at the clock, the morning is half gone. Perhaps the most challenging is suppertime. Serving at 6:30 seems early but to put it off makes it late.

And with the time change, spring seems to have sprung. Afternoons have grown warm while mornings are still at freezing. We’re having our fire in the morning now instead of the evening. The sweatshirt, my standard uniform, gives way to a t-shirt and hoodie or sweater that can easily be doffed when I walk the dogs on a warm afternoon.

Daffodils preparing to bloom at Gilbert
Mike and I went to the farm last Thursday afternoon (March 5). Seems hardly worth mentioning since we weren’t there an hour. We found no mice in traps. I hope that means there actually were no mice and not that they just avoided the traps. (I fear that they avoided the traps.)

The north field from the grove at Gilbert
Anyway, it was lovely to be there, however briefly. We agreed that with our next trip we’ll turn the water on. We’ll also plant raspberry canes that Ken has for us. Yes, I know -- purists argue for buying the canes, but where we garden results are “iffy” at best for whatever reason – weather, soil conditions, etc. It’s nice to have the “freebies” which have served us rather well. KW




5 comments:

Hallie said...

Is "doffed" the opposite of "donned"? Where have you been hiding this new word?

Kathy said...

"Doff" is an old verb meaning to remove an article of clothing. We don't use it much, I supposed. Men used to doff their hats when a lady passed.

Chris said...

I hate the time change. Takes me days to get used to it. Today is the first to seem somewhat right. And I told Dan the same thing--four months on regular time?? (Dan says it takes an hour just to change all the clocks, so in the spring, we lose two hours.)

Kathy said...

LOL -- That Uncle Dan! What a card! -- We lose two hours in the spring -- so true! I suppose that means in autumn the hour it takes to re-set the clocks cancels out the hour we gained.

Chris said...

Yup!