Stopped at DQ last week for the first cone of the season. Now we know for sure that winter is losing it’s grip. Dairy Queen’s opening, more sightings of flocks of honkers overhead and the arrival of daylight saving time all herald the coming of spring.

This is an early reminder to set our clocks ahead on Sunday morning at 2:00 (or before you go to bed tonight)! Remember the old adage about springing ahead? It will be daylight longer … more daylight time to be outside. Walking around town. Reacquainting with neighbors down the block. Digging in the dirt. 

Here is a little more background on daylight saving time from www.about.com: “Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. During World War II the federal government again required the states to observe the time change. Between the wars and after World War II, states and communities chose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time.

“Daylight Saving Time is four weeks longer since 2007 due to the passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005. The Act extended Daylight Saving Time by four weeks from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, with the hope that it would save 10,000 barrels of oil each day through reduced use of power by businesses during daylight hours. Unfortunately, it is exceedingly difficult to determine energy savings from Daylight Saving Time and based on a variety of factors, it is possible that little or no energy is saved by Daylight Saving Time.”

Oh, yeah … almost forgot; saw the first robin of the year two days ago!

Editor