Part 138 ~ 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.

Things got a little edgy last night. It was probably pushed into full grumpiness by me. Daughter was behind on the meds and the schedule. Ben started getting upset, kicking the front door, banging his head and falling down… wait. Back up. Start at the beginning…

He was outside in the dirt hole so I took some of the old chalk out to him. When he came in to get the bucket of newer chalk, I hobbled out and told him that was for inside. He had outside chalk and inside chalk, and went to take the bucket back inside. He wasn’t happy with that idea and started scripting angry dialogue and screaming. Ugh! Stupid me! So I let him keep the dang chalk. But he’d already felt my frustration, so he continued with the angry.

I was able to bring it back down, but I wish I had been smarter and not triggered it in the first place. It’s difficult to keep from showing any kind of frustration, all the time, and I make mistakes too.

Daughter did his bath again and… brace yourself… SHE washed his hair! Write this one down folks.

Bedtime was late, but it went smoothly. Then I took off for the grocery store. I only needed a few thing and I wanted to drop off prescriptions at the pharmacy. I got my stuff, came home and ate some of my Jersey Mike’s #13 (I got the “Tub” this time) and just relaxed.

I did take a few pictures, I was trying to get the parrots, which kept flying over the house. I didn’t attempt full sunset. Standing and walking are still painful.

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Daughter stopped by my room to tell me goodnight around 9:15pm and we were talking about how good things had been between her and Ben, how good he’d been. Then we heard him burst into Happy Noises at full volume. Lawdy lawd! The little stinker was still awake.

Daughter herded him to the bathroom, then back to bed. He didn’t go to sleep until sometime after 10pm.

I took my pill around 10:15 and have no idea what time I slept. It was another restless night, made more uncomfortable by stupid cats who think I’m furniture or insist on waking me up to pet them at O’Dark Thirty. Stupid cats!

The yelling run-by occurred sometime after 6:00. I heard him, but couldn’t get my body to move or brain to function. I heard another “Gramma come living room, please.” and failed to make anything respond. It was the med alarm that jolted my system into movement.

I stumbled out to get his meds ready and he was dull eyed and slack jawed, sitting on the couch, under a blanket. He wasn’t firing on all cylinders either.

I got his tablet and water bottle, gave him his meds, got my stuff, uncovered Sven, and began my Couch Sittin… all before 7:00am, so not too bad.

Daughter stumbled out around 7:15. Why does she always seem to come to take over AFTER everything is settled? Another Casa Cuckoo mystery. I gathered my things, pried myself off The Spot and hobbled to my room.

Ben was in and out several times. He’d hang for a while, decide I was boring, then go back to the living room. Then he’d come and launch himself onto the bed, a proper Bounce and Bedquake, hang out for a bit, mess with the dog, then leave again.

Daughter was an hour late with his 10:45 med. It was no surprise that he was in SpazmaTaz mode around noon. I have alarms on my phone to remind me of his meds so I don’t lose track of time. Daughter gets very upset if I mention meds to her, so I don’t. But an hour late?? It’s not good for him to get wound up. His noon half Adderall was only fifteen minutes late. She did try really hard to be patient and not get frustrated with him.

Around 1:15 Daughter tagged out to go to her room and charge her phone and laptop. Sheesh… two devices needing to be charged? I went out to take over the Couch Sittin before HRH could even command me.

Unfortunately, Ben still hasn’t figured out that where Gramma goes, Zeus goes. Ben was lining up the Jenga dominoes and was upset that Dogzilla kept knocking them over. I sat in The Spot and tried to get Zeus to get up next to me, but Diesel Cat kept walking by, so Zeus had to go sniff him or Ben would get up and leave the coveted spot to my left open and Zeus would try to lay there. It’s was Keystone Cops for a while.

Ben finally settled down next to me, on the left, around 2:00. Zeus got up and wandered, dominoes fell… Ben said “Then there was trouble” in his best Sir Topem Hat voice, Zeus laid down on top of the dominoes and the afternoon went on… Adventure completed.

Since the dominoes were already knocked down, I deemed it safe to enter the bathroom. One end of the domino trail was in there. Anyway, I was greeted by a surprise

Not so surprising really. This IS Casa Cuckoo after all. At 2:30 meds were given and Ben decided it was chalk time. Of course it was, I had just straightened up that area. I spend a LOT of time picking up and straightening up. It gives Ben the spaces to mess up and keeps my anxiety, caused by clutter, reduced.

Daughter came out at 3:30 with all her stuff and we did the tag off. I was surprised to see her since she’d told me around 2:45 that she was going to try to sleep for an hour or so. I figured it would be the or so, she has work tonight. I asked why she wasn’t sleeping. She said she wanted to finish the movie she was watching… The Notebook. Of course she wasn’t sleeping, she was bawling her eyes out. DUH!

I went back to Horizontal Time. Ben continued doing his chalk thang. I could hear him singing from my room. I love when he sings What A Wonderful World.

I think this is a good spot to pause. We’re entering the countdown to the scheduled routine or let’s call it the Pregame Show. That weird hour or so before stuff starts happening. I might just close my eyes and catch a little doze before the mad rush begins…

Tonight’s exit song was obviously written for her children, but I think the message can apply to all our friends too. I want to keep the lights in all your eyes ablaze.

Thank you for sharing our Adventures today. Another mostly chill day. I could get used to it. Come by tomorrow, I’ll let you know how the evening went (I will probably skip sunset again. My leg still hurts and I’m Driving Miss Daisy) and we’ll see what kind of fun we can have.

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HUGS!

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