My father often tells tales about his maternal grandparents, Paw and Maw Martin, whom he adored. They lived right next door when he was growing up, so he saw them often and has many fond memories of them.
One story Dad tells is about Paw’s reaction to Daylight Savings Time, back when it was implemented in the US. Paw refused to go by the “new” time, so anyone who wanted him to be anywhere during the months affected by DST would have to convert that time to Standard Time.
I know, this makes Paw sound like a curmudgeon, but he wasn’t; he was actually a very good man. Possibly, his attitude toward a time switch had something to do with being a farmer. Animals have clocks in their heads, not on their mantels, and when a cow’s used to being milked at a certain time, that’s the time it needs to be milked. There’s a reason farmers work from day’s light to day’s end. It has little to do with the position of hands on a clock, and more to do with efficient use of light and other resources.
Every year when the clocks change, I think of Paw and wonder if I might have inherited a little bit of his practical nature where time’s concerned.