Daylight SavingsTime returned this past weekend. According to the calendar, we’ll have it until Nov. 2 when it goes back.
Personally, I’m an ardent supporter of Daylight Savings Time and making it permanent in our state woul d be a good deal.
However, there is a hitch. Even if our legislators were to make it that way, which I hope they do, apparently any legislation relies on the Sunshine Protection Act at the federal level before the state can enact it.
Guess I hadn’t paid much attention but until I saw where our state senators overwhelmingly approved it a couple of years ago, I never had heard of the Sunshine Protection Act.
That apparently gives states the rights to choose to permanently adopt DST or practice standard time. Reportedly, close to half the states already have approved legislation to stop their clock and 19 of those have opted for DST.
I was pleased for the return to DST again this Sunday morning at 2 a.m. because that provides more time in the evening for opportunities for activities. I really hope the state can achieve making DST permanent.
There’s no good reason not to have it year round that I can see.
My wife Pat and I have been looking forward to it since last November. Last year, at least several times a week if not each evening, we would walk a mile or so.
We stopped our almost daily walks in the evening in November when DST went back to standard time.
With cell phone on my hip, it’s easy to keep track of the steps we’re taking and how far we go on a walk.
Several years ago we started trying to walk each day to help us get more exercise. We would do those in the evening after supper.
Unless it rained, or the wind was blowing really hard or it was unseasonably cold, we’d walk.
What we find is that walking provides relaxation after the hustle and bustle of a busy day. We often talk about how our day has gone, what we’ve heard throughout the day in conversations with other people or what we’re looking at doing later that week.
Fortunately, we’ve discovered that while walking is good exercise, there are other benefits it provides.
Another activity that DST allows is for Pat to tend to her flowers in the evening once the time gets here for her to plant them and take care of them for us to water them. Just spending evenings outside in the backyard are enjoyable, more time for grilling and cooking outside.
When we have the grandson visiting for a day or two, it gives us more time outside with him which he really enjoys.
There’s just a lot of positives to having Daylight Savings Time year around.