Part 10 ~ The Adventures of King Ben & Zeus the Big Dumb Dog

If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.

Bumpy start today. I went to sleep around 11:30PM last night and woke up at 1:00AM. Even with 30mg of Restoril every night, insomnia and fibromyalgia win. I eventually went back to sleep until the Bounce. I have no idea what time it occurred, I didn’t look at the time until 5:00AM. I was hoping it was 6:30AM and I could give Ben his meds.

He kept doing this thing where he would lay on his back, kicking his feet and swinging his elbows side to side. Nevermind the bedquake, those elbows in the back were painful. I told him to knock it off, but he has selective hearing. He was also leaning over me and stage whispering something with a lot of “S” in it. I have NO idea what he was saying, I just know that all those esses right in my ear was irritating. By 6:00AM I’d had enough and went and hid in the bathroom until I could give him his meds.

Daughter got home at the usual time and started telling me about work. The overnight shift has been short staffed for months and on top of that, two people called out. She said all the patients were awake most of the night, the ‘fall risk’ patients kept trying to get out of bed (one extremely large woman somehow fell between her bed and the wall, it took some serious maneuvering to get her back in bed) and hitting the call lights for pain meds. I guess they think if they’re annoying enough the nurses will give in and give them their meds early. It doesn’t work that way. The nurses have to follow the doctor’s orders…no leeway.

She went off to her room, no invitation to Ben today. Dang! Ben continued to be very energetic but also lazy. He zips around, bouncing off everything, playing ‘bongos’ on the dog but then he doesn’t want to get off the couch and walk six feet to get his tablet. “I need help!” or “Gramma to do it!”. I didn’t give in this time. He calmed down for a little while around 10:00AM.

Zeus was unhappy and in my face. Ben was sprawled in the middle of the couch and Zeus was upset that he didnt have room, either in front or behind Ben, to get on the couch too. He tried to squeeze himself in between me and Ben, but Ben pushed on him and told him to get down. Spoiled rotten dog upset because he can’t sit on the couch. Our old Lucky dog used to paw at people, trying to make them move so he could sit on the couch. It’s rough being an animal in our house. (yeah, I’m rolling my eyes)

After his mid-morning meds, Ben got up to play with his chalk. He took his earbuds out, so I could hear that he was watching a show that he hadn’t watched in a long time… The NumberJacks. Cool…educational programming. And even better, no stabbing, punching or shooting for him to want to reenact.

He stayed calm for the rest of the morning into the afternoon. I guess today was Opposite Day. Aside from requests for “‘nother juice” or “blue ramen” (Marachaun, Soy Sauce flavor only. He eats it dry, crumbled up with the seasoning packet sprinkled over), he just zoned and watched his tablet. Oh, and fought with Zeus over space on the couch.

Daughter rolled out at 1:30PM today. I guess she couldn’t justify staying in bed later than that today. I sometimes get irritated that she wants at least four, preferably five hours of sleep after work, then another three or four before work. I have to remind myself that most people are NOT chronic insomniacs, and most people cannot function on three or four hours of sleep, period. Anyway, I went to my room to lay down. Seven hours on the couch was killing my back, it was horizontal time.

Amazingly, Ben stayed in the living room with his Mama. Zeus, as always, followed me. That lasted about a half hour. I had left Sven soaking in the tub and told Daughter I would check on him, but if I forgot (totally possible) could she make sure he didn’t drown himself. Anyway, I went to check on him and Ben saw me and CLICK, the hyper switch was flipped. BIG TIME!

He went outside… YAY! to drag into my room (why always MY room?!) these wire, stackable, display shelf thingies that we used to keep his ‘outside’ toys in… BOO! He made a ‘jail’ out of them and put SuperDog in jail. I have no idea what SuperDog did to deserve jail… remember, I just don’t ask.

Then he decided he wanted to be Burt (Bert?) the Chimney Sweep from Mary Poppins, and do the One Man Band thing. He was banging and thumping and jigging all over the place, making so much noise you’d have thought there was a whole gang of kids. I just closed my eyes and focused on my breathing and tried to stay calm. He was just playing after all. I really should take my closet door off and put it up in his room so he can watch himself in there! I’m not keen on the idea of having a full length mirror shipped to me. I’m not incredibly superstitious, but why chance it?

By 5:00PM I was ready for the dinner, bath, bed routine to move forward at double time, triple time! Pizza was on the menu tonight. I guess all the snacking filled him up because he wasn’t really interested in his pizza. Zeus will get it tomorrow if Ben doesn’t wind up eating it. No wasted food when you’ve got a Big Dumb Dog. I’m waiting on Amazon to deliver some dog food. We have a little left, he’s not gonna starve, even if he acts like it.

While Ben was in the bath, Daughter told me she had gotten email from Ben’s school… Uh-oh! The official word is School is closed indefinitely. To quote the movie Heathers, “Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!” I cant say I didn’t see it coming, and I can still hope for Summer. Friday, March 13th… who knew that would be the last time I saw that glorious little yellow school bus.

I’ll leave you with this video. Beware, it’s full of cursing, but sometimes we need to use those words! Take care of yourselves, stay healthy and stay tuned…