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Time Change

Stay Safe and Check Your Batteries

In case the end of Daylight Savings Time has crept up on you, consider this your reminder that at 2 a.m. Sunday, we “fall back,” setting our clocks back one hour and dragging out all the usual moaning about leaving work when it is already dark outside. (It’s a shock to the system no matter how many decades you’ve had to get used to it.)

But there are benefits to the semiannual changing of the clocks. For example, it is a perfect time to check carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms and other safety gadgets in your home to make sure their batteries are fresh and they are in working order.

As we head into winter, carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms can be even more important as the use of furnaces, fire places and generators increases, while ventilation is reduced. The warning given by these devices could save your home and your family.

Humans find plenty to grumble about as turning back the clocks means we are really, truly headed for the dark and cold of winter. But there is a lot of good in using the event as an excuse to make vital safety checks. For that matter, use it as an excuse to rotate or flip your mattress and restock your emergency kit — anything you remember to get to only once a year, too.

And remember in just four months, we’ll be springing forward (Sunday, March 13, in case you’re marking your calendars). For now, use this weekend as a chance to do something that could make the difference between life and death for you and your family.

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