Time was, there was no such thing as daylight-saving time. Many of us say “daylight savings” time with an “s” on the end. I looked it up to see if I was using it correctly. Technically, to be correct, there is no “s” — it’s singular. It has to do with it being an adjective, rather than a verb. Now you know. But, if you’re like me, you’ll probably continue to say it incorrectly.

The time change is coming up this weekend. We’ll be leaving “standard time” and going back to “saving time.”

Also, time was, there was no such thing as federal holidays always being on Mondays. Clocks and calendars were managed a little differently, back in the olden days, which I remember.

I still have a bit of a hard time twice a year with the time change thing. I know some of the arguments for daylight saving time (DST). And, I guess it makes sense in some ways.

Many farmers, though, don’t care what time it is. They’re a practical bunch. If it’s light outside, they get up and go do the chores. When it starts to get dark, they finish as much as they can of what they’re doing while they have the light of day.

They would probably agree with the description I heard somewhere that daylight saving time is like the old Native American woman who cut off the end of her blanket and sewed it onto the other end in order to make the blanket longer.

I don’t know why it needs to be a Native American in that story. It could just as well have been an English woman, a Utah woman or a Sanpete man for that matter. But, I suppose an “Indian blanket” is historical and makes more sense than a Caucasian blanket.

Actually, daylight saving time has been around for a long time. Ben Franklin is generally credited with coming up with the idea. He was a real idea guy. (Think bi-focal glasses, the lightning rod, swim fins and yes — urinary cathethers. No wonder he deserves to be on our $100 bill)

Daylight saving time was never really standardized, fully used and solidified in this country until the 1960s. I remember some of the discussions about it. I know that drive-in movie theatres were opposed to the idea. As far as I know, most of Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that stay on standard time year round.

Sometimes I think Sanpete should buck the system and secede from the daylight saving time crowd. Even if it’s just a publicity stunt, I think it would be a fun idea. Actually, if it were just a publicity stunt, it would be the best idea.

Years ago, the southern Utah town of LaVerkin got some national media attention with its declaration of being a “United Nations free zone.” It didn’t last for long, but it got a lot of publicity. In a similar way, being a “daylight saving time free zone” could be a springboard for fame for Sanpete.

I’m thinking that the mental health of Sanpete’s turkey population is reason enough alone for keeping an unchanging clock. I know from my reading some time back that a poultry grower in Canada said that chickens “do not adapt to the changed clock…” I wondered who told the chickens what time it was?

My recent research let me know that “Chickens do not understand daylight saving time. When the clocks change, they continue to wake up at sunrise and go to roost at sunset.” I guess chickens and turkeys don’t see the news or read the newspaper as much as some people may think. (I remember when my mother would go to bed earlier than usual, she’d say, “I’m going to bed with the chickens.”)

I believe we could capitalize on the idea of refusing to go on DST. I think we could develop a T-shirt industry that would bring lots of funds into the county. Think of the messages that could go on the shirts: “Sanpete, the Land that Time Forgot.” (Well, I don’t know. That one might be true regardless of whether we do the clock thing or not.)

Another might be: “Too Lazy to Change Your Clock Twice a Year? Move to Sanpete County!” Or, stealing from the famous song by the band Chicago: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” Does Anybody Really Care? Not in Sanpete County, Utah, We Don’t.”

Lastly, a word about Monday holidays — again. (I admit, I “beat this dead horse” now and then.) What possessed us to allow the three-day holidays to use Monday rather than Friday for federal holidays? This happened in 1971 under President Nixon.

My long-time complaint is that we live in a country where our motto is “In God We Trust” — yet we put Sunday, the day when many have religious involvements, smack dab in the middle of our three day holiday weekends. Can someone explain that to me?

I think Sanpete should start a groundswell letter writing campaign to Congress to introduce a bill to influence a change. There’s nothing else going on in Washington at the moment, right? Oh well. I’ll keep dreaming. — Merrill