WALKER: It's time to stop changing our time

This column is not about ducks. But this little story involves our ducks, and it is absolutely true. We have a fish feeder on one of our ponds that "comes on" automatically every day. I want to write that it comes on at the "same time" every day, but I will leave it to you to decide, after you read this column, as to whether or not it comes on at the same time. Well, about three or four minutes before the feeder throws the pellets across the water, the ducks gather to eat the feed. They do this every day. You can see them coming from all points in the pond. By the time the feeder goes off, all of our ducks (about 40 or 50) are there, and they eat most of the feed.

Several questions. How do the ducks know? Do they look at the sun? What about when it's cloudy? And, does my feeder come on at the "same time" every day? You know, our government changed "our time" last Sunday. Last Saturday, my feeder disbursed at 6 p.m. Now, according to the government, it disperses at 7 p.m. In fact, is it feeding at the "same time"? And, did my ducks move their watches "one hour forward" so as to not miss supper? Frankly, I don't know if our government would say they are eating an hour earlier or an hour later. I think they are eating at the same time.

To me, all of this is serious, and I am going to get off my ducks momentarily. But think about this. Ducks are dumb. But I'll bet there is not a one of you who could predict with great accuracy (within three or four minutes) when 6 p.m. (now 7 p.m. and to once again be 6 p.m. this coming fall) will be every day. You can't even do it if it means you wouldn't eat if you didn't guess correctly. Perhaps these ducks aren't as stupid as they sometimes otherwise appear.

I don't let many things bother me, but I despise all of this "spring forward" and "fall backward" with our time. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Oh, I have heard the arguments: "Save fuel." "School children in the dark," etc. Split the difference. Make 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. or keep it the same year-round, and it will "average out." Reckon how many man hours are spent changing clocks and watches back and forth? And how many man hours are lost or are ineffective and sluggish because their biological clock (is this what my ducks have?) has not changed?

In this column, I've called it "our time." It is "our time." It's not Congress' time. It is our time. If you agree, rise up. Write your senators and congressmen. Tell 'em you're like my ducks. You want to eat at the same time every day. And get up and go to bed and do other things that your biological clock tells you to do. Let's unite and re-take our time and stop all of this insanity. We can do it. I believe that the reason Congress doesn't change it is that they don't understand it (of course, that can go for lots of what they do or don't do).

Another true story. It involves a local farmer, now deceased. Seems that when "the government" last imposed daylight saving time, he was incensed. He refused to change his clocks and watches, and was heard to say: "The government can go to ... (you know where). They are not going to tell me what time it is. I know what time it is!" Well, don't laugh too loudly. If you were dealing with cows and hogs and chickens and ducks and other animals, who are on a biological time, you might feel the same way. And, I guess he was afraid that the extra hour of sunlight would burn up his crop.

I used to ask my friend, Jerry Wilson, what time it was. His response: "In Perry, Georgia, the Greenwich Village, Naval Observatory, Ocmulgee River, Fannie Gresham Branch time is 2:45 p.m." Now, there was a man who knew his time.

I should have stopped with the above paragraph, but I have one other true story that I must share. A farmer told me about a blind mule he had. Used the mule to plow his fenced-in garden. The mule would plow to the end of the row and stop before running into the fence. I asked him how the mule knew. "Simple" said my farmer friend, "he was counting his steps." Well, he said it was true. And, by the way, what is time to a mule?

I originally wrote this in April of 2005. I feel much stronger about this, today, than I did then. What do you think?

Larry Walker is a practicing attorney in Perry. He served 32 years in the Georgia General Assembly and presently serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Email: lwalker@whgmlaw.com.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "WALKER: It's time to stop changing our time ."