"Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives."
This was the opening for an old-timey soap opera back in the day (is it still on??) and over the words was this sort of game show tick-tock music that made it seem oh-so-almost-time's-up terrifying.Â
I got to thinking about time over the weekend, specifically on Sunday morning when we lost an hour of sleep as we "sprang forward" into Daylight Saving Time. I saw a post on Twitter that gave me a wry smile: "That hour we lost was the one that I was going to use to get my life together." Then, I remembered House Bill 584.
This House bill was introduced to our Idaho Legislature by Rep. Joe Alfieri and Rep. Jeff Ehlers and the gist of it was to make Idaho exempt from DST, just like Hawaii and most of Arizona — and American Samoa, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
"The proposed legislation would eliminate the twice-yearly switch to Daylight Savings Time, and would take effect in coordination with at least two other neighboring states which are enacting similar legislation. Remaining on Standard Time would reduce numerous health and safety risks associated with changing clocks in spring and fall."
It passed the House and has moved to the Senate — where it will likely fail.
Sad.
In many parts of the U.S., it makes sense I guess to make the days longer. You can play and watch baseball without turning on the lights. And you can stay out and play longer — hiking, swimming, boating, sitting in the back yard and reading … . But here in Idaho, it doesn't even get dark until around 10 p.m. in high summer. And it can be hot, hot, hot.Â
And speaking of hot, did y'll see the State of the Union's Republican response by Sen. Katie Britt? What a hot mess. After people took to social media begging Saturday Night Live to feature her over-the-top melodramatic breathy eye-popping soliloquy in Saturday's cold open, they obliged with a parody by Scarlett Johansson. Staying up for that almost made up for losing an hour of sleep.
