Today was a busy day as volunteers, including some of you, made phone calls to Senators in Washington, asking them to consider safety before profits  —  to strike down the Collins Amendment that would gut the Hours of Service Rule just instituted last summer, and to watch out for amendments that would prohibit any attempt at raising trucking company’s  minimum liability insurance requirements.  And as the day went on some Senators stood up and voiced concern over trucking regulations.  In particular there is now another amendment, the Booker-Menendez Amendment  (both are Democratic Senators out of New Jersey) that would strike down  the dangerous part of the Collins amendment; the part that would cause the hours truckers are allowed to work to increase back to 82 a week.  The Booker-Menedez  Amendment would allow a study of the ‘unintended effects of two consecutive nights off’ for drivers who work 70 hours or more a week but would not make changes in the rule until after that study was complete.  Seems like a good compromise to me.    I called my Senators again late this afternoon and asked them to cosponsor that amendment.  We’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted.  I truly appreciate all your support, in all its different manifestations, from calls to writing, to hugs, to concern.  It’s all important.  And the more you talk about it with friends the better chance we have of making our politicians understand the importance of not letting profits compromise safety.

Meanwhile.  I came home to find a Blanding Turtle (no I didn’t know the name, but a friend on Facebook did!) in my driveway.  You know those things can move pretty fast when they want to.  By the time I got inside and hooked the dog up for a walk to the mailbox it was nowhere to be seen.    But I knew where it was, under some shrubs along the edge of the driveway.  Because Katie wanted to go over there really bad.  But I wouldn’t let her and we high tailed it back inside.  Almost instantly I noticed it had moved up to the garage and was looking around.  I think she’s trying to decide where to lay eggs.  I watched and took pictures through a tiny bit of beveled glass in the front door.

She walked all the way up the driveway, along the garage door, then back past the front porch and under the car.  Who knows where she went after that, but there’s a lot of garden for her to choose from.  Katie and I went out on the deck to watch and listen to the birds.  I fell asleep until the frogs began to sing.  It would be a good night to camp out but sheer exhaustion precludes me from lugging the tent out and setting it up.  Plus tomorrow is another day.

I hope Capital Hill sees fit to make the right decisions tomorrow.  I hope they aren’t like my wandering turtle, just exploring and looking and ending up headed right back where they came from.  Or hiding under a metaphoric car.

I’ll let you know.  For tonight I’m pulling my head into my shell and getting some shuteye.

Katie says night too.