Republican or Democrat

I have never been a Democrat. Now I must wonder if I am a Republican. Both parties are behaving like idiots. Uppermost in my mind : The energy problem
( soon to be a crisis ).
There are about ten easy steps to be taken that will solve the problem. I will list a few of them (You all know them unless you are a congressman)
1) Remove all the restrictions on drilling for our oil. This includes the East Coast and the West coast as well as Alaska. The shale oil and tar sands should be developed at once. The environmental impact of this is very small. The petroleum industry has new methods for clean drilling.
2)Get started at once building more nuclear power plants. We have 108 of them at present and they are old but reliable. We could use 100 more. Modern designed plants will be more efficiet and even safer.
3)Shoot the enviromentalist. ( Just kidding ). What I really mean is, the wild eyed ones that are obstructist should be ignored.
There are many more things that need to be done but the above have a wonderful
simplicity and a huge advantage. They would cost the Government nothing. Private industry would gladly do it all at their own expense. We, the struggling public would benefit with lowered gasoline prices.
Unforunately, these measures would take time, years and years. Why didn't we get started ten years ago ? Ask your congressman.

Papayas (again)

Quasimoto was doing very well until the other day. Five well formed young ones and what looks like another fifty on the way. I discovered a group of ants crawling about and puncturing
the babies. They then oozed white stuff which the ants were harvesting and carrying away.
We have instituted a 24 hour watch but they are sneaky and slip by from time to time. Now I have sprayed Quasi ( My affectionate name for the tree ) with anti ant spray. Success for the
moment.

Of all the colonial hymenopterous insects, the formicidae are my least favorite. There are many different types, most of them swarming about our modest garden. We have enormous black ants with the annoying habit of crawling onto ones arm or leg.Nasty fire ants also like to get on ones body and they pack a nasty sting. I remember , as a child, that big red ants were prevalent. We see very few of them in this area. The ones after the papayas are black and medium sized. I don't suppose there is any way to eliminate them.

Papaya

Two years ago daughter Kathy presented me with a tiny papaya tree. She was aware of my failed efforts from previous years and so ( bless her ) she gave me this miserable specimen, root bound and bent over. I called it Quasimoto and stuck it unceremoniously into the ground.
It grew slowly and the first year produced blossoms which promptly fell off. Year two and it has gotten to about 7 feet ( a shrimp by papaya standards). Now it has produced many blossoms and they are all turning into papayas. I expect a bountiful harvest. Isn't that good news ?

The bad news-- I hate papayas. Never has a more tasteless fruit been produced by mother nature.

Next I will thrill my readers with the heart warming story about our beans and tomatoes.