let sleeping (fill in the blank) lie

We've reached the time in fall semester when sleep is at a premium. The professor is going away for a conference with his students, and we're all looking forward to the quiet and some shut eye. No more late nights writing exams, please! I almost said, "Let sleeping writers lie" but I don't want to insinuate here that I lie! Well, you know what I mean. I'm looking forward to some time on the couch, knitting with the dogs.

Last night I took the silk knitting out on a little fieldtrip to City Hall (just a few blocks from home) in order to help support the mayor. She wanted our town to be part of the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. In brief, this is a way for cities in the USA to sign up for the Kyoto Protocol in a grassroots effort and to make a commitment to reduce global warming pollution.

Alas, the city commissioners were so concerned that it might cost something, that they only agreed to review and consider the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. It was very disappointing. I ended up speaking at the meeting, which I hadn't planned on. I felt self-conscious, because I knew it would be on local TV. However, I enjoyed pointing out that our town doesn't even have emissions tests on vehicles, an easy place to start. I took pleasure in pointing out that my backyard is full of trash--bottles, glass, etc. dumped by people who used to live in town, who should have known better. My soil is full of lead. (when I gave the information about that, the commissioners' faces blanched.) I reminded them that we had a choice--we could choose now to keep our city clean and smog/pollution free, or risk having someone move to town in 20 or 50 years and remark on how filthy a place it was. It's the commission's choice. They know better--energy efficiency, reduction of pollution, etc. is worth it, but don't want to spend the money...

If you voted, thank you for exercising your civic duty. I'm excited that a woman will be in charge of the House! No one I vote for seems to win locally, but I am especially pleased that more women will be lawmakers now. I hope one day that there will be an equal number of male and female lawmakers in places of power.

I don't say much about my husband the professor here, but I'm very excited about one of his most recent projects. He's launching a new database, the Kentucky Butterfly Net. This allows people all over the state to see nearly 50,000 documented sightings of over 2,450 species of butterflies and moths, from 1872-2006. Now that's an achievement...and a wonderful contribution to state research.