Fall back, but spring forward into clean room

Because I Said So column for The Commercial Appeal

Nov. 11, 2010

With the time change, we’ve fallen back into a new routine here at home, one with dark afternoons and well-lit mornings. Last weekend, I roused my little farmers early to harvest the wheat, thresh the grain and tend to the pullets in the brooder.

Just kidding, these kids don’t know a horse from a radish and are as confused as any other city kid about the sudden difference in night and day. As confused as I am; I had to Google farming terms to come up with “pullets” and “brooder.”

What we did do that day was to convince them in their newly sunlit morning that it was springtime. They were so disoriented when I started going from clock to clock, falling back — actually moving time backward to their amazement — that I was able to convince them that it’s a whole different season.

And with this new spring season comes — what else? — spring cleaning.

We live in a house shared with friends, another family, bringing the total number around our table to nine people. It’s a group that makes a mess, that creates clutter and chaos and three full recycling tubs of refuse per week. So at least a couple of times per year, these rooms need to be cleaned. Or at least the debris thinned out … (read more)