End of summer brings blues, football, notes

It's Labor Day weekend, which is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that it's a three-day weekend and the NFL season is about to start. The bad news is that summer is nearing the end.

I've long championed my love of summer. I also proposed a new season system, under which summer would officially end Monday night.

Every year, I hear people talking about how excited they are for fall – for the falling leaves, the pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, the coming Christmas season. Every year, I get sad as the days become shorter.

This week is the unofficial end of summer. You may be happy about that, but I'm not. Still, it's time to empty my pockets of my summer-ending notes:

• I'm appalled that the state Legislature seriously considered a bill to end daylight saving time in California. Actually, the bill would just allow residents to vote on it, but really?

People want to end sunny evenings? They want to create a world that resembles summer in Alaska, with just a few hours of daylight every day? They want to let the Snow Miser win the famous Sun Miser-Snow Miser battle ("Year Without a Santa Claus," 1974)? Please.

If we get rid of daylight saving time, what's next? Christmas? Kittens? Laughter?

• For my money, there is no household item with a name that better reflects its purpose than a sewing machine.

Not only is it for sewing, it's a full-blown machine, with pulleys, levers, motors and pistons. (I'm guessing. I'm not knowledgeable about what pistons do.)

Second-best household item name, from my friend Danny: A juicer.

• The NFL season kicks off Thursday, so this former sports editor will share his predictions.

The Raiders will go 9-7 but miss the playoffs. The 49ers will be 4-12. Several high-profile players will suffer serious head injuries and the league will continue to be popular.

• For my money, the best autumn opportunity in Solano County is the Cool Patch Pumpkins Corn Maze in Dixon.

According to its website, the maze will open sometime this month. It's the world's largest corn maze. And it's in our county.

Do yourself a favor. Go to the Cool Patch Pumpkins Corn Maze.

• Here's the description of nearly every Netflix or Amazon TV series that I've watched with over the past year: A dysfunctional detective with a dark secret in his/her past works to solve a strange crime in a dark, hopeless town.

Who wouldn't love that?

• When the Golden State Warriors switched flagship radio stations from longtime home KNBR (680 AM) to KGMZ (95.7 FM), it was a milestone move for Solano County radio.

Yes, Solano County.

Among the stations carrying the Warriors will be KUIC 95.3 FM in Vacaville – largely because it's close to 95.7 on the FM dial and fans will be able to find it.

But consider this factoid: This is the first time a major Bay Area or Sacramento pro sports team had a Solano County affiliate.

Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.