Like it or not, and we don’t, “fall back” is here. Clocks will be set back an hour this weekend as Daylight Savings Time comes to an end.
Officially changing at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 3, the adjustment shortens the amount of sunlight at the end of the day until spring officially arrives in 2020.
Fixing this mess will take an act of Congress, since it only makes sense for the entire country to operate on the same system at the same time.
But with the exit of an extra hour of sunlight comes the semi-annual reminder to check the batteries in smoke detectors.
Unlike the time change, this safety measure is optional. And also unlike the time change, it could be a matter of life and death.
Smoke detectors can provide minutes, or even the seconds, critical to escaping a fire that could prove fatal.
So don’t just read these words and forget them. Check the batteries. Make sure your smoke detectors are working.
And if the detectors are more than ten years old, throw them out and get new ones. The old ones have reached the end of their life span.
Take a minute to use the time change for something good. You may never know whether or not a life was saved.