Good Morning Sunshine! Unfortunately you will not reach your full potential today, as we have now entered the season of Darkness and Drear.
I will miss you Daylight Saving Time. Counting the days til your return in four months. Maybe 2027 will be the year Congress Saves The Daylight. Till then we are stuck with shorter days at the hands of the illogic.
So yeah, the most dreaded day of the year for me, fell on one of the coolest. I probably hate this time of year more than anyone. I've been cursing Standard Time as long as I can remember, at least since the 90s. I feel like this issue has been a lifetime crankiness. I remember finally writing an email to then California Governor Gray Davis. He basically said, blame it on Ben Franklin. He apparently didn't know it's origins, as Franklin's connection has been documented to be a myth.
Adding to the drain of having daylight hours stolen, one of my main drains of the time change is mass ignorance of those who don't know the difference between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time. There is some blame to be put on media as they rarely mention Standard Time, instead using end of or start of, Daylight Saving Time. Still there is no excuse, especially for those who say stupid shit like, "I hate when it gets dark early, we need to end Daylight Saving Time".
So, now that you all know my disdain for The Darkness, and those who don't get it, here's why I've put you through that.
Thursday's Zoo email newsletter, noted their "Daylight Savings Time" Winter hours change.
Irritation in one sentence. It's Saving, not Savings, and Standard Time is during Winter. Come on people. Daylight Saving Time ends November 1, and Standard Time starts. And just to help you out, Daylight Saving Time Spring hours will start on March 14.
In May 2023 I wrote a blog post after Oakland Zoo announced their Members Hour. Included is the history of how Our Zoo adopted Winter hours during Standard Time.
> It has been my longtime idea that the SFZoo permanently change the hours to 10-4, with 9-10 designated as Members Hour. By changing closing time to 4, there doesn't have to be seasonal hours, and it allows for evening events during Daylight Saving Time. Not only does this benefit Members, it creates many different opportunities for extra influx of money.
One of the things that was my suggestion back in 2009, before Director Peterson branded me as Zoo Enemy Number One, was changing to winter hours. After our Grizzly Bear incident, which for those who don't know, was when a visitor trespassed into our Grizzly Girls home and almost got them killed. Allegedly the target team had rifles pointed at them ready to shoot.
I was horrified at this event, as just two years prior, we lost Tatiana (Tiger) because of jerk visitors who were allowed to roam the Zoo as daylight was fading. I immediately sent an email to Director Peterson, and said, "Are you waiting for another Tiger event?" Why is the Zoo open during the winter when it gets dark early? The Zoo should close early. To my surprise, but also relief, at the next Joint Zoo Meeting, Peterson adopted the idea as her own, and asked the committee to approve winter hours.
The Tiger tragedy was Christmas Day. The Grizzly event in late November. How is it immediately after that Christmas Day, the hours weren't changed? Tanya Peterson was touted in media as the Zoo's "savior" when she became Director in early January 2008, just weeks after the Rec and Park scapegoated the previous Director for the Tiger tragedy. Why didn't she identify the hours thing as an issue? Why did a Member of the Public have to point it out? <
Three years later, I still think changing the hours to 9-4 would be a good move. It would create set year round hours, allow for a Members perk, and most important make sure the Zoo is cleared out before dark.
After starting this post in the wee hours of Friday morning just after reading the Zoo's email. I searched my Facebook posts for an old quote to use here and this photo I took of Our Precious Tallulah came up. I smiled and said, Hi T! For the first time, I think I noticed the magazine's cover text, "The End Of Light,...Darkness". While the complete actual title does not refer to my irk about Daylight Saving Time, I thought the words that were peeking out around Tallulah's grip were a bit serendipitous, and Miss T looks adorable.
Moving on from the state of light, the two other posts I have in draft this weekend deal with my Disappointment and Disinterest. My continued disappointment in City Officials lack of care and interest in Our Zoo, and my increasing disinterest in researching, reading and posting about stuff I can't change.
As I looked at those two draft posts, the one about financials morphed. Where I had several ChatGPT tabs of previous query results to read, synopsize, and share, a handful more presented. Some had sent me a message that the Zoo had finally hired a new Chief Financial Officer. Unexpectedly, that non-consequential bit of info immediately set-off a series of new questions, meaning more answers, more information, more reading. Again, reading about something I can't do anything about, except document, is not how I want to spend my time. I think I've spent enough of my life (sixteen years), and energy doing that.
I still have the craving for the knowledge, but I'm quickly overwhelmed by the many questions that come to mind and that then prompt the abundance of reading produced. It causes anxiety and takes up needed space in an already full mind. That all said, I'm not sure I'm going to read any of this information. It's unnecessary in the grand scheme of my ability for change at Our Zoo. Even though I want to know, at this point, after all these years of knowing (and possibly too much), I think I know enough. Unless it's about the status and future secure residency of Our Lions and Chimpanzees, at this moment, I think I've near had my fill.
If Zoo Leadership is truly interested in change, they need to get to seeking it. Our Zoo depends on it. And, it's not up to me to point this out to them. They either know it and will act on it for the current betterment of Our Zoo, and it's thriving to reach future potential, or they won't seek the knowledge and ambition to. It's all rooted in care. Time will tell. Unfortunately, time will run out if they don't act soon.
At the start of this post I intended to talk about the four words in my title. Now, I think the disinterest that I've just finished noting, may need a bit of expanding on, and the disappointment, deserves it's own post. Any mention of it this low in documentation, in my opinion, would not serve the importance of the words.
I'll endeavor two more posts today, but I may not get that far.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
> Hot Topic Posts:
*Should The City Feel Some Obligation To Invest In Our Zoo? ...Invest In Our Lions?
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2026/09/should-city-feel-some-obligation-to.html
*If The Zoo Had The Funds Pt One - Why Can't Our Lions & Chimpanzees Stay Here?
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2026/10/if-zoo-had-funds-pt-one-why-cant-our.html
*All My Posts Regarding The Zoo Seeking To Rehome Our Lions & Chimpanzees
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2026/10/all-my-posts-regarding-zoo-seeking-to.html
> Comments: Note that Anonymous Comments are accepted. I moderate all comments before publishing. If you are using this form for a non-publish correspondence, please note "Personal" on it. Thank you for your participation and/or feedback.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Blogger's Statement
"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I used to use (search) labels, but too often forget. I started noting "Hot Topic" in title, but fell lax on that. Now I'm just going to add labels, keywords, etc., here at the bottom with hashtags. Does it help in searches, who knows.
#SanFrancisco , #SanFranciscoZoo , #Zoos #SanFranciscoZoologicalSociety , #SanFranciscoZooCEODirectorCassandraCostello , #FormerSanFranciscoZooDirectorTanyaPeterson , #SanFranciscoRecreationAndParksDept , #FormerSanFranciscoMayorLondonBreed , #SanFranciscoMayorDanielLurie , #AssociationOfZoosAndAquariums , #AZA , #SpeciesSurvivalPlan , #SSP , #Animals , #Wildlife , #Nature , #AnimalWelfare , #AnimalCruelty , #AndeanBear , #KomodoDragon , #Chimpanzees , #PatasMonkey , #Fossa , #Orangutans , #Barriers , #PerimeterFence , #Pandas , #Bison , #Gorillas , #Lemurs , #Lions
