Enjoy the Extra Hour
Jennifer Flaten

Ah, daylight savings time has arrived. Who doesn't love the extra hour of daylight it brings? That is once you get past the annoyance of resetting all the clocks in your house.

Maybe it isn't a problem for people with a normal amount of clocks. For the record, I consider less than five clocks normal-and yes, we have more than five.

What can I say, we have more clocks and watches then the average bear. Yes, it is annoying and, no, I don't know why we have so many-but on a positive note I am rarely late.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that awful fright you get when you hop in the car and glance at the clock on the dash-you know the only clock you didn't reset-and for one panicked moment you think you are late for work. Come this happens to everyone right? Am I right?

Anyway, after all that, then you can take full advantage of that glorious extra hour of daylight.

With this abundance of daylight, you could do something fun or you could do something constructive like go outside to clean up all the leftover holiday decorations.

Ah, yes the outdoor holiday decorations, which buried in their snowy grave, remained, until recently, anyway, out of sight, out of mind.

Unfortunately, the combination of spring thaw and extra hour of daylight are conspiring against me. Soon everyone will see my lax attitude in removing my holiday themed exterior illumination.

Oh please, when it is 20 degrees below zero and mounds of snow dot the landscape, the last thing on my mind is taking down the Christmas lights. At that point, it feels like spring will never come.

The way I see it, in January, a 3-foot light up moose exudes a certain wintry charm-or so I tell myself. Of course, once the snow melts it just looks pathetic stranded in the middle of the muddy front lawn.

In light of the fact, I blow my cover, so to speak. Today, I hustled outside to pack up the moose, the snowflakes, the spiral light up Christmas tree and the icicle lights.

Well, okay, I did have a lot of decorations out there but in my defense I haven't plugged them in since Christmas and really until just last week they were almost completely encased in snow; that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The yard is now devoid of both snow and decorations. When I look at it, I see nothing but a sea of mud. Apparently, when the kids look at it they see a big neon sign that says-run across me in your brand new shoes.

Better yet, says the sign, ride your bike across the squishy yard. Oh yeah, and don't forget to act completely surprised when the bike sinks up to its axle in mud.

This time of year, I use the phrase "what were you thinking" a lot. The kids are amazed that I don't share their enthusiasm for outdoor play this time of year. Daylight Saving Time means the kids have an extra hour of daylight to cause trouble. Damn, I miss winter already!

Maybe I should abandon Wisconsin for Arizona, where time never changes.