I like daylight saving time. First and foremost, I like it because it keeps sunrise at a sane time during the summer. If we stayed on standard time all year, the sun would come up at 5:04 a.m. in the middle of summer, and I just can’t sleep in after the sun is up.

I also like having an extra hour of daylight in the evening. More sunshine in the evening means more time for outdoor fun, whether that means playing sports, riding a bike, going for a walk, or just working in the yard or garden.

But daylight saving time isn’t all good. Without even getting into the debate over whether it actually saves electricity, “springing forward” an hour completely throws me off. It didn’t give me problems on Sunday, because I was able to sleep in anyway. But Monday morning, my alarm clock woke me up way before I was ready to get up. I reached over and shut off my alarm, planning on climbing out of bed immediately. But before I knew what was going on, I was curling up under the covers again. About 15 minutes later, I was finally able to get up.

I’d wager I wasn’t the only person this happened to either Sunday or Monday. Springing forward an hour is just too much at one time. I’m sure there are dozens of reasons it wouldn’t work, but crawling forward 15 minutes every Sunday for four weeks would be much easier on my sleep schedule.

******

It was another strong year for the newspaper in the Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence. For 2011, we won seven first-place awards in different categories, as well as a pair of second-place finishes and one third-place finish. Special congratulations go to Steve Hudson, whose submitted photo of an eagle feeding at Marion County Park and Lake won first prize in the feature photo division.

These awards say a lot about our county and communities. We live in interesting communities with interesting people and interesting things going on. Life here is as exciting as you make it.

— Adam Stewart