Yesterday I revived the kitchen clock with a new AA, and the pendulum started swinging, and all was well. Additional kitchen timepieces are the stove clock, the microwave clock, our watches, and our phones. Beyond those, there are the VCR clocks, which look festive with their blinking lights, and once we figure out how to reset them they will be useful, too.
My alarm clock is a duplicate of one we had in a Best Western in 2006 that was so cool that it made it worth discarding the 20 year old Panasonic classic. The newer one has a CD player and even better than that, it knows about Daylight Savings, and it reacts. The unfortunate part is that it only knows about the old DST, not the more recent March/November changes. This has resulted in Sunday morning surprises of either gains or losses at the wrong times, but fortunately I have caught on before we reached Monday and corrected it. The time change buttons are kind of hard to adjust, and I am thankful that there are only two changes a year. The station buttons at the top make it really hard to replace the cover after those corrections, so over time they have been removed and thrown out. The cover really does not fit all that well, and I never screw it back into position because it is too labor intensive.
Last night before I turned out the light, the alarm clock said 8:49. Hmm, later than my usual winter bedtime, but it was Thursday, so close to Friday. And of course the clock is ten minutes fast, just in case. This morning the alarm went off, and it was a struggle to stay awake for the customary three songs, but I managed, and then staggered up to start the day. Yadda yadda, and down to the kitchen for the usual breakfast, and a quick check at the newly batteried clock, and it was an hour behind what it should have been. What is this? A bad battery? I checked the stove clock, then the microwave clock, then my watch. They were all in sync at 4:21, just an hour ahead of what I thought they should be. Back to the alarm clock with the loose top and the missing buttons and the arrogant attitude, and sure enough, that appliance from hell decided to Spring Ahead on a Thursday. It's close to the correct day, but I know that the clock doesn't know that. I will still have to watch for another Spring Ahead in April, the traditional time for DST to begin. And apparently at random times before and after that. Guess it's time to start using my phone as an alarm.
I am going to keep a close eye on that pesky alarm clock. Who knows what it's planning to do next?
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