Fall Back

Good old Ben Franklin. You could say he thought of everything.

He invented bifocals, the lightning rod, the iron furnace stove, even the odometer. Perhaps he needed more daylight for all his work, for it was Ben Franklin’s idea to institute Daylight Savings Time.

DST is just about over for this year and it’s time to “fall back” to standard time. Before you hit the hay this evening, turn your clock back one hour. Technically, the time “changes” at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow, but only a complete geek would actually stay up to change the clock at exactly that time (OK, I did that, but I was just a kid!).

This is the day of the year that everyone is urged to do two things:

First, check your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries. (What?! You don’t have a carbon monoxide detector… go get one now.) From the good men and women at Hall County Fire Services in Georgia comes this critical information:

“According to Lt. Beverly Walker eighty-three percent of all civilian fire-related deaths are the result of home fires, and on average, nearly three children a day die in these fires. By providing an early warning and critical extra seconds to escape, smoke alarms double a family’s chances of getting out of a home fire alive.”

My advice is get that carbon monoxide detector, lots of batteries, and maybe even a lamp or two (even Ben Franklin needed light after all) at Home Depot.

Next, this is a day designated to check your medicine cabinet. Did you know that expired medicine can be toxic? I know, this is supposed to be a light-hearted, fun blog, but it’s only fun for you if you’re alive to read it. Even vitamins can harm you after their expiration date. It’s time to order new ones from the House of Nutrition.

Next year, we’ll turn back the clocks on the first Sunday in November. (I bet old Ben never though of that!) In the meantime, if you get confused about what time is where you are or where your distant friends and family live, you can always check the Time Zone Converter.


Until next “time,”

Conna