I’m not a big fan of Daylight Savings Time. Actually, I guess it’s standard time I don’t really like. Who decided on the hours that would be considered standard, anyway? Obviously not a hunter.
Just look at yesterday’s sunrise and sunset times. In Cheyenne, sunup was at 6:37 yesterday morning. That means if you wanted to be out in the duck blind ready to go a half an hour before sunrise, you had to leave home at about 4:15 a.m. But Saturday morning, you could have slept in an extra hour. Sunrise Saturday was 7:36.
It’s really not that big a deal, except that we get used to one set of hours, then, wham, Standard Time comes back around, and we have to get up an hour earlier. The only good thing is that we gain that hour during the hunting season.
Granted, we gain an hour in the middle of the night. I think people would be a whole lot less cranky about Daylight Savings Time if we set our clocks back at about 7 p.m. on a Friday night in November and set them forward at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon in March, instead of at 2 a.m. That way, we’d get an extra hour in the fall for cleaning shotguns, watching football, or hanging out with friends in November. The real bonus would be in March, when Daylight Savings Time kicks in. At 4 o’clock, we’d set our clocks ahead, and just like that, it would be the weekend. One minute, it’s 3:59, and the next, it’s 5 o’clock and quitting time.
The way it is now, the time change screws me up. It shouldn’t, because we’re not really gaining or losing an hour. We’re just changing which part of the day we’re up and around. But it does mess with me. And this time change in the fall is the one that messes with me the most.
I ought to be OK with it, because this is the time of year when we can actually sleep an extra hour. Six a.m. should feel more like 7.
Whatever time it is, make sure you have the right time. You don’t want to screw up and have to sit in the duck blind an extra hour before the sun comes up.
