Sorry, but this old country woman wouldnt attempt to explain anything i cant understand myself! it takes all my amimals a month to understand why their schedules have changed, and try to explain to a horse that you're feeding at a different time because congress dictates it! As to why we have to? to fit in with the rest of the world, like trying to explain to the same horse that the feed store was closed when you got there on "the old time". whichever way they do it, i just wish it wouldnt change, one way or the other. Hope someone else can give you a better explanation.

It's definitely gonna be a pain for those of us who have to get stuff loaded and off to the farmer's market before the commuters clog up the roads...

OK city girl-gardener, IÂll try to give you a view of a country person.
I have always felt that daylight saving time doesnÂt save any energy, no matter what Washington has to say.
Maybe you can explain how it saves energy; the sun still comes up no matter what the clock says. When daylight saving time is here, donÂt you still turn on the lights when it gets dark? I know you will say it gets dark later; not really just that the clock says itÂs later. It is still dark when I get up in the morning and stays dark later, by the clock. Therefore, you move the saving from night to morning, still several hours of dark, just moved the hands on the clock.
But the wait if we leave the time alone, the city workers wonÂt get off from work early enough to play a round of golf (common in Washington), tennis or jog for a mile or so through the park. In the country, at quitting time, one is usually so tired; the only way we would run is if the big bull is on our tail.
I donÂt know what time city people get up in the morning, but here I get up between 4 to 5 AM every day. 5 AM is a late sleep-in morning. With daylight folly time 4 AM translates to 3 AM, 5 AM to 4 AM, still several hours of dark to start the dayÂs chores. Children have to catch the school bus at 6 AM, translated to 5 AM without the time change; still dark with young children standing at the side of a dark country road. Not good!!!
By the time they catch the bus, I am several hours behind with what I need to do today, by the clock, and I will be hitting all the traffic from people heading for their city jobs.
I will get all kinds of stares from people when I drive my old farm truck to pick up feed for my animals, fist shake, fingers are flipped and mouths shout obscenities for slowing them on THEIR way to work. I know I'm not working, I'm just going for a drive in my old clunker.
Now do you wonder why the rural "folks" despise daylight folly time?
It only works for city people not us country rubes.

It's not the farmers, it's the COWS that are inconvenienced by this. You ever tried to set a wristwatch back 1 hour without thumbs? *grin*

Seriously, my animals get taken care of at the same time of day each day, no matter what the clock says. The only reason someone is trying to change this is to work a little more money into their pocket. Or there is a rider to this seemingly "sure, why not!" bill that someone REALLY wants passed.

Velvet ~:>

I live in that nutty state of Indiana - made nuttier by our governor's push for DST, but his refusal to choose a time zone. Having not experienced daylight savings time for nearly fifteen years now after our move from Michigan I can't say what effect it will have on my animals.

But, as an educator, I do know that kids get precious little sleep. Too often I'm asking students what time they went to bed last night because they're falling asleep at their desks. (And that's the least disruptive classroom effect of a child's lack of sleep.) Plus as a parent it's darned hard to get your kid to bed when it's still light out.

So I have a hard time going along with the politicians that spout the tremendous importance of education out of one side of their mouths and the wonderfulness of daylight savings time out of the other.

Hi
I am not a "city" person==more like suburban, and for the life of me I can't understand the whole thing of Daylight Saving Time. All it does is irritate me and a lot of other folks, too. Why can't we just have the same time all year round? I agree with the member who said that somebody is making some money from this.
Pat

Thank you all for your insight...These are all good reasons, and I inconveniences that I wouldn't have thought of. I'm glad to finally get the other side of the story. I personally wish that they would just pick one time year-round and stick with it!

In answer to Hoptown's questions:

Most city dwellers would be considered late sleepers...I get up at 5:00am, and I would expect that most people around here and in Washington get up about an hour after me.

Technically explained, the Government's Daylight Savings Plan is based on shifting the "wasted" light in the morning (while they're sleeping) to the evening, when they can clearly use the daylight more productively, spending that valuable time riding around in golf carts, drinking martinis and brainstorming about important new laws to pass. And the savings doesn't stop there. By not having to turn the headlights on, the golf carts obviously do not have to be re-charged nearly as often, resulting in a $1.2 billion* dollar savings in electricity annually! (*Adjusted for price-gouging.)

So you can see it's a simple, yet brilliant plan. And, if the Government says it saves us money, we should believe them...They've never lied to us before, right?
;)

Take care, all.

DST is about moving the most light to most usable part of the day/clock. It has a greater effect on northern states that it does on southern states. If you leave the clock alone you will end up with more daylight, from 4 until 7 that most people don't use. I know many farmers are up early and they should just ignore DST and deal with their animals the same time of the day they usually would. But for us clock driven rats, I would rather have it dark when I'm sleeping and light when I get home after work. I don't play golf, but I do like to garden and bbq. When we get to spring ahead we take all that day light and it becomes usable time. When we fall back in the PNW it puts the greatest portion of light between 7 and 4, so if you work 8-5 you get an hour of dark on either end of the work period.

How it saves energy I don't know.

jb

In California, years ago, one year they (whom ever) decided to not change the time. We were having the gas shortage etc. Does anyone remember sitting a block away from the gas station waiting for hours sometimes overnight to get gas... anyway, the children were in the dark trying to get to class. Security for the kids was bad, people weren't used to going to work with such dark conditions and more car wrecks were reported. There was a lot more reported than I can remember but it was all over the news how the time change was essential for order etc. I would need to check the archives for a better answer. I clearly remember trying to get five year olds out of bed and into a classroom in the dark with traffic.

In all seriousness (this time), DST saves energy by shifting the hour of light from the mornings, when most people are sleeping, to the evenings, when the majority of us get home from work. Therefore, the sun is providing the light for an extra waking hour, rather than having to turn on the lights on and consume an extra hour of electricity. Sure, some of us get up while it's still dark and use that saved electricity up in the morning, but they're supposedly basing the savings on the "majority" of Americans' sleep habits.

Here in So California, the sunrise is starting to get much later, light at around 7:am, and sunset earlier, getting dark around 6:30. At the peak of summer with DST, the daylight lasts about four hours longer. I know it's very different in the Northern states, so I doubt there's a universal (or National) answer that will work for everyone.

Perhaps they should just change California. Then I'd have a lot more time to do yoga, see my therapist, and get my nails done after work. (Ha!)

Beats heck out of me why they dont just change work times? wouldnt it be simpler all the way around for companies to change employee hours? or is that just too simple to figure out?

OOOOOH I like that one!

ceresone, you're a genius!

Years and years ago the farmers didn't like DST because a meeting in town in the evening came while it was still prime field work time...an hour was lost. Also the hay, beans, or whatever were not ready to harvest until near noon [dew]with DST.
Then too I remember the electrical shortage of March 1978. Basketball games were moved up to late afternoon instead of evening to obstensively save electricity. Well the gyms still needed the lights on to run the games in afternoon and then they went home after dark to turn on the lights at home. If the game was after dark, the homes could have been dark...saving electricity...go figure.

Some people have to change their animal's feeding schedule because they have to get them fed before/after work.

I feed my animals right before dark--which is at about 6p right now. Any later & the guineas go up in the tree. When DST ends, it will be at 5! that is so early for it to get dark!:( It's still getting light fairly early 7 or so... I'm not a morning person. I wish they'd stuck with DST hours and forget this fall back stuff.