Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published April 2, 2003

Moonlight was forbidden?

Get ready, set, spring ahead! In just a few short days, most of the country will take part in that twice a year exercise of turning the hands of the clock forward or backward. Sunday, April 6, is the day this year. We spring ahead in the spring and fall back in the fall.

Since the shift to daylight-saving time falls so near April Fool's Day, it isn't surprising that it became part of an April Fool's Day hoax that is listed as one of the greatest of all time. It all began in a newspaper office in Illinois when it was decided to sponsor a contest to find out who could save the most daylight. Beginning with the first day of daylight-saving time in 1984, those entering the contest were to save daylight and whoever saved the most daylight would be the winner. The rules stated only pure daylight was allowed but this did include light from cloudy days. Moonlight, dawn or twilight light was forbidden. The saved light could be stored in any container.

Publicity about this contest at the Eldora Daily Journal was spread nationwide by newspapers and TV. Hard to believe but the response from the public was tremendous. Abe Lincoln's words said it well. "It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."

It is probably a blessing that we can't manipulate our brains as we do the hands of a clock. Yes, we can fall back to reclaim the past, but I wonder how many would really want to spring forward to see the future. Last week a former POW during Desert Storm was interviewed. He was asked how he survived in isolation and he answered he found that his whole life was tucked away in his memory. During those dark hours he was able to open all those stored records to give him strength.

Speaking of memories, I seem to remember this was a fairly lousy winter, but oh, what a glorious spring. The Bradford pear trees are bursting with clouds of white blossoms. Even if the sun is hidden, clusters of golden forsythia are a good substitute. Down in Vidalia onion country the welcome rains came in early March, ending a four-year drought. Trouble was the drops just kept falling and wore out their welcome.

It seems that too much wetness on these luscious sweet onions is a perfect setting for a bacterial disease which rots the bulb of the infected plant. Because the fields are so wet and soggy, the growers have not been able to move in heavy equipment needed to spray chemicals to destroy the bacteria. The harvest begins April 10 and the growers are hoping that before then they will be blessed with many long, sunny days to sop up the wetness on the leaves so the onions will be protected from their enemy. This would be a good time to give the Cumberland Shrine Club an order for the tasty onions since their annual Vidalia Onion sale is now under way.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.