In mid July, Congresssaurus Triceratops was still in Colorado visiting Stegosaurus when he heard the news from Washington, DC that he had been cleared of collusion with Russia by the United States Congress.

"I'm glad to hear this, friend Congresssaurus Triceratops," said Stegosaurus.


"Me too; the accusation was groundless .... I was only attending a local production of Finian's Rainbow; and of course I spoke to Londonderry Birds on my way home .... there was never any connection to Russia ........ just power mad mammals who saw what they wanted to see."

"Their concern isn't the welfare of the country; what they are doing is only for the short term gain of their party; not a one of them stands on any thing even remotely resembling honor or principle. There is no integrity to be found in the Halls of the US Congress."

"Will you be returning to Congress, then?" asked Stegosaurus. "It looks like they need your sense of honor and integrity."

"No, no, no. It took me a while to embrace the idea of retirement; I've been in public service for the better part of 70 million years. I've spent years of public service in Greece; in Rome; in Europe; and the United States. Not only has the political climate discouraged me ( as I have seen it so many times before. ) and if the mammals' shenanigans or a meteor falls from the sky and ends it all, I should like to spend some time in my life in the pursuit of more peaceful endeavors that may help both dinosaur and the race of mammals in other ways."

"The pursuit of science is my newest endeavor; and with my remaining years I shall shed light and bring hope to the future by helping you to extract Sunlight from cucumbers."

"Let us prepare a nice mid afternoon snack, and we can compare notes on our progress when I return," said Stegosaurus.

"I have a couple of cucumbers I'd like to show you; while you were away meeting with your accountant Corythosaurus, I think there has been a great stomp forward. I may have been successful in something mammals have been trying for, trying to succeed at since the year 1726. I think I have extracted sunlight from cucumbers!"

"That's great," said Stegosaurus. "I knew that having your larger brain around would be an advantage to the cause. I will return in a moment."


"How about some leftover Austrian Pines? They're leftover from Corythosaurus' visit."

"That would be great."

"I'll add some vegetables from the garden too."

"Some tomatoes would be nice."

Stegosaurus returned with a nicely prepared meal of Austrian pines and cucumbers for two.

Stegosaurus and Congresssaurus Triceratops dug into their meal right away and ate heartily. Before too long, they had finished.

"Well now that was a very good meal. Remain here, and I shall retrieve my cucumbers to show you the scientific advancement to which the mind of dinosaurs have contributed. They laughed at us in the realm of science; they said because we were dinosaurs we were too slow witted to understand the complexities of science. Why, for science, they said, you need a mammal brain !! But I, but you and I have proved them wrong today!" declared Congressaurus Triceratops.

"I know how it is. Sometimes I think they never acknowledge the fact that we aren't slow and slow witted cold blooded swamp monsters. I will await news of your exciting discovery!" said Stegosaurus.

However before too long a time, Congressaurus Triceratops returned distressed. "Where are the two cucumbers I set aside while you were meeting with Corythosaurus?"

"On the rock ledge to the left," said Stegosaurus. "That's where I keep stuff I've harvested from the garden."

"I see no cucumbers there; only tomatoes. Wait.... were we not supposed to have tomatoes with our meal?"

"Yes, but I saw some cucumbers there and I thought that might be better for lunch and we could save the tomatoes for dinn .... um, oops."

"Oh Stegosaurus, Stegosaurus ....."

"Oh dear. I hope we can still be friends .... I didn't mean to ..... will you still stay in Colorado? Can't you repeat your experiment? I'll help you in any way I can. I am really sorry."

"Of course we can still be friends, and I will remain in Colorado as long as you will have me ..... I will just have to start over again. I sure hope I can remember all the complex steps."

"I'm really sorry, Congresssaurus Triceratops. Really."

"Don't worry. I'm just as guilty of eating them as you are ... also, I've served in Congress I'm used to such setbacks and having to go back to the drawing board, to use a mammal expression. What we did once, we can do again, science has been waiting a long time for this breakthrough, it will just have to wait a little bit longer."