This weekend we are all supposed to set our clocks ahead one hour so there is more daylight later in the day. Yes, it is an early start to Daylight Saving Time. I do seem to recall, back during the energy crisis of the 1970s, having this start as early as January and February, but, in the last few years, it was more likely to occur in April. No matter when it starts, I'm not sure I'm for it. I've read that Ben Franklin liked the idea way back when--maybe he just wanted more light for carousing in the evening and dark for sleeping in the morning, who needs "early to bed, early to rise?"-- and that it can be helpful to farmers as they can work later into the evening. Kids like it because it extends their outdoor playtime. It always seemed kind of cool to be outside at 9:00 p.m. and still have some light. Although, when I was little, it did tend to push the starting time for our Kick-the-Can games back quite significantly. Kick-the-Can, or KtC for the true aficionados, was the game of choice in our neighborhood. It had everything: the loud, obnoxious sound of a tin can being launched down the sidewalk...the stealthy movements necessary to sneak up and kick it again without getting nabbed...the always-present possibility that the person who is "It" will never, ever not be "It"...best of all, the fact that the best time to play was in the dark, so it had the feel of being something naughty. One kid, who was subsequently banned from KtC for life, was naughty and, surreptitiously put a large brick in the can when he turned it over...you could still kick it out of place but not without major pain to your foot. Dr. Scholl, apparently, never encountered this particular distress to your dogs. That "Brick in the Can" episode was our sport's equivalent of baseball's steroids scandal. Although, on the plus side, it did lead to an environmentally-friendly, water-saving technique applied in the toilets of America. Regardless, I really loved that game. To this day, I have to be restrained when walking through the coffee aisle at the grocery store.

Over the years, I've had people tell me that they figure the springing ahead of DST is hard on somebody who has to get up around 2:00 a.m. With it staying light later, getting to sleep would be more problematic and, consequently, waking up would be harder. I can see the logic of that but, frankly, after this many years of being up in the middle of the night with the skunks and possums, the time change doesn't make much of a difference. (This morning, for example, I saw a skunk cross the road and he wasn't even wearing a watch. After seeing me, he immediately jumped into a basin of tomato soup to get the stench of "weatherman" off!) The only conflict I have with the time change is self-induced because I go around and change most of our clocks early on Saturday...not Sunday....which then drives my wonderful wife to distraction. I always leave one clock on the real time but I don't tell her which. It's just a little game I play. Of course, Monday morning rolls around and I can't find any of my socks and underwear.

My mom always says she will be tired for the next six months, until the time goes back to "normal." Maybe we should just set a time and go with it. However, if we do that what would TV folks babble about leading up to this weekend? As for me, all this talk about the time change has me feeling inspired. My wife is always encouraging me to be more neighborly so I think it is time for a neighborhood-wide Kick The Can Tournament. A whole new kind of March Madness! Now, all I need to do is find a can and my old brick.