Here is our new alarm clock.  It represents a major advance over existing technology.   It requires no electricity or batteries, and you don’t need to set it.  Even in a power outage or national emergency, you can count on it to wake you.  The only problem is, this particular model is light-challenged.  It often begins ringing around 3:30 am, which sets off the rest of the clocks in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, they can’t be turned off, and continue ringing until 6 or 7 or until you get out of bed.  Our theory is that rather than heralding the morning’s first light, the “rousters” (a much more apt name for them, in my view) are calling upon the night’s revelers to return to their roosts.  Regrettably, the disco music at the clubs is far louder than the rousters, and hence their calls go unheeded.  By the time the parties die down, the jackhammers have been manned, and the day’s construction work is proceeding apace.  So, in the event you had imagined that everything was perfect in our little slice of paradise, keep this in mind: at least you can turn W off!  (Wish that were true of his war, as well…)