It sounds like there’s a serious movement afoot to end Daylight Saving Time once and for all. Actually, the proposed legislation – known as the Sunshine Protection Act – would keep DST and do away with Standard time. Which makes sense, because our clocks are set to daylight time almost eight months out of the year, making Standard time the exception. And an oxymoron.
Honestly, I’d be more in favor of doing it the other way – making Standard time permanent – because if this legislation is enacted, we’ll have 9:00 a.m. sunrises during the winter months. It’s hard enough to roll out of bed and head to work when it’s snowing and zero degrees outside; doing so when it’s snowing and zero degrees outside AND pitch dark sounds like a Herculean task. But you know what? I’ll support anything that puts an end to the pointless ritual of changing the clocks twice a year. If that means more evening light as opposed to more morning light, so be it. At least our sunsets in June aren’t as crazy-late as those in the PNW!
Speaking of sunshine, we’re getting quite a bit of it this afternoon. It is well-deserved after the raging blizzard we just experienced, however! When the warnings popped up two days ago they were forecasting crazy amounts of snow, maybe as much as 2′. Well, the storm didn’t really get going until around noon on Wednesday – about six hours behind schedule – so our totals weren’t nearly as bad. But the winds were (and still are); they gusted to 63 mph overnight and are still blowing in excess of 50 mph now. Needless to say, neither Tara nor I have been to work the past two days. Her employer closed the office and she gets paid for doing nothing, while I actually have to work from home if I want to be paid for time out of the office. The nerve of it all! Obviously I have nothing against working from home; that was my life for six months after moving here (and still is every weekend). But doing so while my wife is wrapped up in a blanket watching “My Cousin Vinny” is a little harder to stomach.
Not going to work was a good call, though. Felt a little weird yesterday morning when we hadn’t spotted so much as a single flake of snow before noon, but once the storm got started, it made up for its late arrival with heavy snow and those strong winds. All night long I listened to them howling and shrieking, rattling the windowpanes as they sang a plaintive tune. I found it oddly comforting, actually. I don’t mind wind from the comfort of home! All that blowing and drifting snow led to the closure of I-90 from the Wyoming border to Chamberlain, not to mention the Rapid City Regional Airport and the majority of businesses in town. I took a walk at lunchtime today to survey the scene, and it’s quite impressive. There are waist-deep snowdrifts in places and the roads were not fit for safe travel. Getting to work in a snowstorm is one thing, but a blizzard is something else entirely. This one was a doozy, though pretty short-lived. And it never got terribly cold – the temperature overnight didn’t drop much below 30º.
Tomorrow, we’re both planning on returning to work. The winds are expected to die down overnight and it’ll warm into the upper 30s, so travel should be significantly better.
Someday I’ll talk about something other than snow, I promise! Provided it ever stops snowing, of course.
Come to think of it, you may be reading posts like this until June…
Check out some of these snowdrifts!
Mark My Words 
When I was a teacher most of the kids came late that following Monday following the time change whether moving clock back or forward. This year my father was not aware it was time change time and we did not have the twice a year argument that I must wake up precisely at 2 AM to change all the clocks. Sensibly I changed all the clocks at 7:30 that morning.
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He really insists on changing them at the exact moment? Ha, that’s great. I always change mine the night before. Hope you’re enjoying some nice spring-forward weather!
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Wow. What a great excuse to stay in with some hot cocoa and a good book.
Or work from home. Whatever.
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No hot cocoa or good books for me, though I did enjoy some wine yesterday after all my work was done.
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And a good view from your window. I could handle that.
As a writer you’d appreciate this: I saw a pic of a grocery store sign that said “Green Grapeless Grapes.” Haha. Pretty sure they meant seedless. Anyway, wine made me think of that.
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You can keep ALL the snow, please! I’m so looking forward to our move in about 3 years to Central TX. Yes, it snows there, too. I know – I know. And, yes, they get the occasional ice storm, maybe a tornado tossed in for good measure but those things never last long and they don’t stick around for 6 months out of the year. I’ll take my chances.
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I can’t help but marvel over the fact that it has snowed here, off and on, since the very beginning of October – so six months isn’t too far off track! I can handle this, but tornadoes scare me. Hope you’ll have a shelter!
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I’m shocked that Tara’s business was closed. Only schools and govt type businesses ever close here for a blizzard. It’s really ridiculous. Glad they have more common sense out there! And yes, I’m all for never changing my car clock again!!!
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Considering there were 6′ high drifts in places – even over the roads – closing was the smart thing to do. Most of the businesses in Rapid were closed early or opened late Wednesday and Thursday. Everything is back to normal today, though schools are still closed.
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Bruce remembers as a kid in Rapid City after a major blowing blizzard, he and his pals were able to walk across a huge snowdrift from roof top to roof top to a neighbor’s house. Now, THOSE were some drifts! Something to look forward to!
Carol
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That would be so much fun! I suddenly feel gypped…
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Mark, I’ve been in complete AWE of all the cold weather and snow you’ve gotten over the summer in your new home. The pictures from the last blizzard you had are incredible. And it’s funny because we’ve had the wimpiest winter I’ve ever encountered here in the Northeast. In fact, yesterday and today were so warm and humid (mid 70’s) that it felt like summer (which I’m dreading). I saw a guy in shorts, tank top and flip-flops today. WAY TOO EARLY for that! However, the end of March and April can be bipolar by whipping us right back to winter weather. Last April (April 24th to be exact) we had a snow blizzard.
I sincerely think I need to move to South Dakota!
Or perhaps…ALASKA!
Enjoy the snow, my friend. And know that someone in Philly is VERY envious.
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I feel bad for you, Ron. I actually almost mentioned you in this post! My dad says it’s a good thing our first winter out here was as bad as it has been, because we’ve pretty much seen the worst of what is possible. Also, after so many boring winters in the PNW, this was exactly what I needed!
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