It’s that time of year again

Is this weekend the last time we’ll change our clocks when we switch to daylight saving time?

We’ve been doing it for 56 years, so to many of us, its second nature. It’s no big deal. It’s what’s supposed to happen in the spring and in the fall. It’s why we know the memory mnemonic: Spring forward (meaning set your clocks forward one hour) and fall back (set your clocks back an hour).

But there are threats to this time-honored time change. The U.S. Senate unanimously gave its consent last year to ending the twice-a-year practice, and making daylight saving time permanent. The House of Representatives still has to act upon the proposal, which may or may not happen this year. If the House follows suit and the bill is signed into law, this weekend’s ritual could be our last.

That will mean more daylight in the evening, but means dark mornings for most Americans during the late autumn and winter months.

There are also those who propose making standard time permanent (the time we observe from November to March), which sleep experts say follows a natural pattern and provides greater health benefits with more light in the morning during those dreary winter days.

But I like that the spring-forward-fall-back thing makes for obscure trivia. When asked what’s the longest day of the year, most answer the first day of summer. The summer solstice on June 21 has the most daylight hours, so it’s usually considered the longest day. Conversely, the winter solstice on Dec. 21 has the fewest daylight hours, so many view it as the shortest day But the actual shortest day of the year is when we spring forward on the second Sunday of March. We lose an hour when 2 a.m. becomes 3 a.m., meaning the first day of daylight saving time is only 23 hours long, i.e., the shortest day of the year. Likewise, the actual longest day of the year is when we fall back on the first Sunday of November. We gain an hour when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. — and we recoup that lost hour of sleep from the spring — meaning the first day resuming standard time is 25 hours long, making it the longest day of the year.

Oklahoma recently joined Alabama, Arkansas, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and Florida by approving legislation to make DST permanent, should Congress enact the change. In addition, more than 30 states are considering legislation related to changing our clocks twice a year. Arizona and Hawaii do not recognize DST, so they’ll either have to get on board with what Congress may decide, or be the fly in the ointment.

So traditionalists who view the twice-yearly time change as the way it’s always been will have to wait with those who want to abolish the time-changing ritual to see if Congress addresses the “problem” in the next eight months.

If not, then we’ll fall back in November when standard time resumes, you know, the way it was intended

*****

On an unrelated topic, who doesn’t like pie?

I love key lime pie and lemon meringue pie. Pumpkin pie and pecan pie are high on my list, too. Fried pies (apple or peach or almost any ingredient) are hard to beat. Traditional apple pie, of course, is as American as, well, you know I’ve never tried mincemeat pie, and still feel like my life is full without having done so. Cherry pie, blackberry pie and strawberry pie are good. And then there’s pot pie — chicken or beef or any other meat. And then the one few have heard of but which I have eaten, Michigan’s meat hand pie, which is called a pasty But why would someone bake four and 20 blackbirds in a pie?

Then there’s pie in art. Don McLean’s “American Pie” springs to mind. I don’t care much for the dirge itself, but I like the homage to Buddy Holly. As for the “American Pie” movies, I’ve not seen any of them. Am I really missing anything?

But I digress.

So why mention pie? Tuesday is Pi Day. Obviously not the baked dish made of a pastry dough with various fillings, but the mathematical one.

In decimal form, the value of pi is approximately 3.14 (hence 3/14, March 14). As we know, pi is an irrational number, meaning its decimal form neither ends (like 1/4 = 0.25) nor becomes repetitive (like 1/6 = 0.166666…). We usually only see the first 18 decimal places of pi’s value, at most. The value actually contains 100 trillion digits. But it’s hard to find a date on the calendar that matches up with that many digits, so 3.14 (March 14) works well for Pi Day.