It's Alarming

I have been tapping the “snooze bar” after my alarm goes off once, twice, and sometimes three times lately, giving me the luxury of 15 minutes more in my cozy bed.  Not that I am a huge fan of rainy, snowy or cold weather, but I look forward to those gray mornings which seemingly give permission to blame forces beyond my control to hunker down, pull those blankets snugly back around and catch a few more ZZZZ’s.  I could probably set my alarm 15 minutes later, but that would be way too simple and besides, this extra sleep is the best of the whole night and the self-indulgence is pure decadence and one of the guilty pleasures of life that you can smile about all day.

Alarm clocks are a good invention, sure beats those roosters that cock-a-doodle-doo at any hour (which leads you to believe they really can’t tell time), all of which are too early to rise and shine and they don’t come equipped with an on and off switch.  Being the proverbial trivia queen and in search of any and all the truth that matters (and thank technology for the internet) the earliest alarm clock I found reference to is a German iron wall clock with a bronze bell, probably made in Nuremberg in the 15th century.  This clock is 19 inches tall and of open framework construction. It needed to hang high on the wall to make room for the driving weight to fall.  Another tidbit of trivia is that Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur, invented the snooze alarm.  General Electric-Telechron first marketed a snooze alarm in 1956.  The first Westclox Drowse (snooze) electric alarms were sold in 1959 and could be set for five or ten minutes snooze time.

These feats of mental prowess excite me and are up there with the innovation of the flush toilet, gas grill, blow dryer, intercom, phone answering machine and filters for fish tanks.  The folks who have the fortitude and ingenuity to come up with the items that we love, cherish and use everyday somehow have been overlooked.  Our lives have been enhanced and made easier by regular people who are willing to lay their personal image on the line and be scrutinized by the general public with their sometimes-novel approaches to mundane tasks. No national or school holidays, no postage stamp, no recognition that these folks are heroes of the everyday man and woman.  I know I have never said a proper thank you to Alva J. Fisher, of the Hurley Machine Company in Chicago, who invented and patented the first electric-powered washing machine (The Thor) in 1906 (it was only a minor inconvenience that most homes at the time did not have electricity).  Alva held firm to his convictions that every household would benefit from such a contraption… wouldn’t he be surprised and delighted at the royalties he would be paid with the onslaught of megawashers we now have that offer a 1200 RPM spin speed with 13 different wash cycle types that will accommodate 18 pairs of jeans or 45 towels?

We must unite and proclaim our allegiance to the vast array of life enriching doo-dads!  We must pay homage to the inventors of these “what did we do before this was invented” and give them their due respect!  We must hit that snooze-bar with no guilt and only rise when the pre-set coffee maker has finished its job!  We must raise our mugs in unison with the chant “to the little people who made this all possible – thank you!”

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life. Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-