Tag Archives: clock

Time Matters

Posted on April 30, 2015 | 1 comment

Good morning Everyone!

Elegant Mantel Clock

NIGHT BEFORE:

Picking up necessary medication after work: 20 minutes.

Putting bag with necessary medication down in the house somewhere:  10 seconds.

Greeting husband and daughter:  5 minutes.

NEXT MORNING:

smiley-frowny-face_17913_

1st sweep of house for bag containing necessary medication:  5 minutes. 

smiley more frowny face

2nd sweep of house for bag containing necessary medication:  5 minutes. 

more frowny face

3rd sweep of house for bag containing necessary medication: 5 minutes

angry face

4th sweep of house for bag containing necessary medication:  4 minutes, 45 seconds.

relief 2

Being saved by 15 seconds from calling husband and daughter and throwing monumental (unfair) hissy fit about stuff being moved without knowledge:

Priceless!

Have a great day!

Nancy

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Surrendering Time

Posted on May 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

Good morning Everyone!

Medieval Clock Tower

Medieval Clock Tower
Photo From Wikimedia Commons
By Frank Kovalcheck

It’s morning and I’ve successfully sent Kayla off to school and am sitting down for my usual spot of blogging before I head off to work, something I enjoy, but I’m keeping a close eye on the clock as I do so.

Once upon a time, a day was not divided up into hours, but simply day time and night time.  People understood that when the sun was up, you would do whatever hunting and gathering needed to be done, and when the sun was down you slept.   Then we invented agriculture and the seasons came into play – you had to at least divide time up enough so that you knew when to plant, water, harvest and store.

That schedule was simply enough – you still got up when you needed to get up and went to sleep when it was dark – but somewhere along the line, someone (and I really don’t know who was present at that vote, because it wasn’t me) decided that we needed to divide the day up further.  I can just imagine that conversation!

Timekeeper:  Hey, dude, I just thought of something.

Friend:  What’s that?

TK:  Well, you know how we get up when it’s light and we do some things and then we go to bed when it’s dark?

Friend:  Yeah, what about it?

TK:  Why don’t we invent something called a schedule?

Friend:  What’s that?

TK:  It’s a way of being sure that you are doing what you need to do when it needs to be done.

Friend:  That makes no sense, dude.  We’re already doing that!  We plant when we need to plant and harvest when we need to harvest – oh, and we milk the darn cows every blessed day at day break because they make such a fuss otherwise.

TK:  Yes, but wouldn’t you feel better if you knew, when you walked in to milk the cows, that you were getting up at something called 4 a.m. rather than just day break?

Friend:  Not really.  What’s 4 a.m.?

TK:  The crack of dawn.

Friend:  It sounds the same to me.

TK:  You’re missing the point.   If you know that you have to milk the cows at 4 a.m. and will be finished by 6 a.m., you then can plan what you are going to do with the rest of your day.

Friend:  I do that already.

TK:  Yes, but you will know exactly how much time you have left to do everything so that you can worry about not getting it all done on time.

Friend:  Still not feeling it, TK.  Sorry.

TK:  You don’t understand.  Suppose the opposite happens and you get done way early, say by noon.

Friend:  What’s noon?

TK:   Lunch time.

Friend:  Ok.  What then?

TK:  Then you can figure out how much of the day you have left and load yourself up with lots of more stuff to do.  That’s called “productivity.”

Friend:  Why wouldn’t I just want to go fishing or read a papyrus scroll somewhere?

TK:  I didn’t know you could read!

Friend:  That’s irrelevant.  Answer my question.

TK:  Well, by loading yourself up with lots more stuff to do, you’ll get more done.

Friend:  It sounds to me like I’ll get a lot more not done, too.

TK:  That’s the beauty of it!  Not only do you get more done, you get to worry a lot more about what hasn’t been done and boast that you got more done than someone else.

Friend:  I think your idea needs some work, man.   I’m off to the lake.

TK:  How about if I add in a big timekeeper tower in the center of the town square with a lot of cute marching figures whenever the gong chimes out the hour?

Friend:  Now you’re talking…..

Prague Clock Apostles

Apostles on the Prague Astronomical Clock
from Wikipedia

Have a great day!

Nancy

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Elegant Time

Posted on April 16, 2014 | 2 comments

Good morning Everyone!

Every family has treasured objects, things that have been passed down from older family members to younger family members to cherish and remember them by.  Regardless of their value to the outside world, within the family, these items are precious and irreplaceable.

In my family, two of our special items are clocks – but not just any kind of clock.  We have the privilege of owning two Seth Thomas mantel clocks, each one inherited from our grandparents.

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock

Our Two Seth Thomas Clocks

For many years, Seth Thomas was one of the premier clock makers in the United States.  Known for their above average quality, bronze clock works and elegant styling, Seth Thomas clocks were very popular.  While their flagship product was no doubt their grandfather clocks, their mantel clocks were very popular too.

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock

“My” Clock

“My” clock came from my grandfather.  One of Grandpa’s hobbies was repairing old clocks, and this is just one of many he repaired.  According to what I have read, this clock is an “adamantine” mantel clock.  The “adamantine” term refers to its black finish.  With its gold pillars, lion faced handles on the end, and black marbled paint finish, it is quite elegant.

Seth Thomas Mantle Clock

Close-Up of the Marble Finish

 

Elegant Mantel Clock

“Mark’s” Clock

“Mark’s” clock also came from his grandparents.  Its elegance flows from simplicity of design rather than the ornate finish of the adamantine clock.  From the simple curved design to the single narrow contrasting strip of wood immediately above the base to the clear numbers on the clock face, everything on this mantel clock stands for clean lines, the elegance of minimal styling and function.

Both clocks have the “Seth Thomas” name printed on their clock face.

Seth Thomas Clock

Mark’s Clock – Seth Thomas label

 

Seth Thomas Adamantine Clock label

My Clock’s Seth Thomas Label

The two faces of each clock differ also.

Seth Thomas Adamantine Clock Face

My Clock’s Face

 

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock Face

Mark’s Clock’s Face

Our two clocks are so intact that the original instructions on the back of each clock can still be seen.  I had a hard time taking a clear picture of the label on the back of my clock, but I promise it is still legible.

Seth Thomas Clock Instructions

Instructions for My Clock

I had better luck when I tried to take separate pictures of the emblems on each side of the instructions.

Seth Thomas Label

My Clock’s Left Emblem

Seth Thomas Symbol

My Clock’s Right Hand Emblem

For whatever reason, it was much easier to get a picture of the instructions on Mark’s clock.

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock

Mark’s Clock’s Instructions

Mark’s clock even tells us approximately when it was purchased by means of the warranty notice on the back.

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock Warranty

Back Label on Mark’s Clock

Seth Thomas was a real person who started making clocks with wooden works in 1813.  In 1842, Seth Thomas Clock Company introduced its first model with bronze clock works instead of wood, and by 1845 all of the wooden works models of clocks had been phased out.  Our clocks have metal works, which I assume are bronze.

Seth Thomas Bronze Clock Works Adamantine

My Clock’s Works

 

Seth Thomas Mantel Clock Works

Mark’s Clock’s Works

 

Seth Thomas clocks were manufactured continuously (with a couple of ownership changes) until 2009, when the company that owned the Seth Thomas clock brand at the time went into receivership.  My extensive internet research (defined as three google searches instead of just one) makes it difficult to tell if Seth Thomas clocks are still being made today.   Some sources say yes, but by a different manufacturer; others simply stop their history with the 2009 receivership; and others state unequivocally that the clocks are not made anymore.

Whether Seth Thomas clocks are made today, Mark and I treasure the two Seth Thomas clocks we own, not only as nostalgic reminders of simpler eras but even more for the people they remind us of.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Not Again! (a/k/a Time Change)

Posted on November 4, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning Everyone!

As I am sitting here writing, listening to Tyra bark softly outside because she is ready to come back in, I am looking outside and noticing that it has gotten to where it is dark in the morning now for quite a while after we get up.  From the fall equinox until the start of winter in December, here in Alabama we lose about one to three minutes of sunlight a day, which doesn’t seem like much, but slowly adds up.  Fortunately, we still have some vestiges of light once I start home from work, which I do enjoy.  That’s all about to change.

Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, which  means that here in the United States most of us will be moving our clocks back one hour.  This is annoying, because for at least a week I will be looking at clocks calculating  “If it is one p.m. now, last week it would have been 2:00 p.m.”  (I never said I was a particularly deep thinker!)

Daylight Savings Time is one of those really stupid strange inventions I don’t understand.  I know the reason Congress started it (in World War II, no less) was to help save energy, but has anyone really done a study to see how much energy it saves?  It seems that the energy we save by lopping off one hour in the spring should be equalled by the energy we use when we add that hour back in the fall.  I think it was Dave Barry who said something like “Try as you will, you can come up with no logical explanation for Daylight Savings Time.”  My favorite description of it, and I’m not sure whether it was by Will Rogers or O. Henry or someone else, is the comparison of it between a blanket where someone cuts off one foot from the bottom of the blanket to add one foot to the top so it will cover their head!  I really think we should just do away with it – I don’t really care whether we keep summer hours or winter hours, I just wish we’d stick with one or the other.

One of the most amusing things to do on the spring end of Daylight Savings Time is to park outside the day care of your choice and watch the kids as they enter on the first Monday after it begins.  The kids don’t care what the adults told them, they know that something about the time is not right, and it is a sleepy passel of young ‘uns that pass through the day care portals on that day.  (I suspect the adults are sleepy too; we’re just better at hiding it! )

I do like getting the one extra hour back this weekend, although each year it seems like the extra hour slides by without any special recognition.  That’s probably because I spend it sleeping, one way or another.

I am grateful to the person who invented the memory aid “Spring forward, Fall back.”  Without it, I wouldn’t ever remember which way to turn – uh, the clock, I mean!

Have a great weekend folks!

Nancy

P.S.  For a while, Indiana and Arizona (I think) refused to recognize Daylight Savings Time.  Does anyone know if they still do, or if there are any other states/regions out there that have decided to march to the beat of a different drummer?  Kudos to them, whoever they are!

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