If your back is aching from shoveling the recent dumping of snow, perhaps this will make you feel a little better: daylight savings time is just around the corner.
Next weekend — 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10 to be exact — clocks should be pushed forward one hour. So while we lose an hour overall, we're gaining sunlight by a couple of minutes every day, and it will be nice to enjoy it after work for a change.
Perhaps even more importantly, remember to also celebrate the unofficial holiday by checking your smoke detectors and replacing their batteries. According to the National Fire Protection Association, even though nearly all homes have a smoke alarm, they were absent in 28 percent of homes that experienced a fire, and inoperable in about half.
In addition, 38 percent of all home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms, while 24 percent resulted from fires in homes in which smoke alarms were present but did not operate.
