May 31

 Good morning on this last day of May. Meteorological Summer starts tomorrow as well as the first day of hurricane season. The Canadian fire season seems to be in full swing and the weather forecasters predict increased smoke in my neighborhood. They say the wind currents will push that smoke to areas south of the Ohio River. 

Several years ago I read a couple of stories about a young man who wanted to live for a year without leaving his house at all. He intended to order everything he needed on the internet and have it delivered to him. I don't remember if he ever accomplished that goal but now I am in a similar situation. I had been wondering how to manage with Mom's recent injury and surgery. Leaving her alone to go out for groceries wasn't and isn't an option. Even though she is getting around the house more leaving her alone is still not feasible. Well, Instacart to the rescue. 

I am ordering my groceries, cat foods, and other items through them now. That also solves another growing problem: getting some of the heavy items was getting very hard on me. Putting those in the card, putting them on the conveyer for the cashier, putting them back in the cart and then in the car, and finally taking the purchases into the house did a job on my back and my hips and my knees. Now all I have to do is put them on my shelves.

We still have to go out because her doctors don't make house calls and we have a schedule for physical and occupational therapy which is at local hospital. And we will have to go out to get her prescriptions. But that won't be frequent and she can go out with me. She is actually getting along so well I hope the doctors will let her use a cane instead of the walker.

Watching the coverage of Trump's "clemency binge" I thought immediately of the scandal that helped precipitate the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church in the 14th and 15th centuries: the sale of Indulgences. It is obvious that Trump is basically selling pardons and the coin involved in the transaction is either cold hard cash or some form of adulation/support. Pay enough cash or provide enough ego stroking and you can get yourself or someone else out of the purgatory of a prison sentence.

Republicans still have a problem with town halls--when they hold them at all. Another entry for the book of shame was Joni Ernst's last week snippets of which were shown repeatedly especially when she responded the the response of her audience when one objected to her support of Medicaid cuts yelling "people will die." "Everyone will die," she responded. My thought "yeah, but you don't have to throw them under a bus to accelerate the process."