Part 184 ~ 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.

Dinner, bath and bedtime went fine. No problems. I took my pictures, happy to see blue skies even though it was still super hot at sunset. Science and pretty and a surprise too…

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… still too far away to be sure, still no squawking, but several large groups and a few small groups or pairs, all flying northwest again. I still think it’s the Parrots and it makes me happy. There were two surprises really. The Parrots and then seeing the Moon. I knew yesterday was the New Moon, but I wasn’t expecting the first sliver tonight.

I did all my regular Night Stuff and was thinking about what to eat when Daughter texted me that she was gonna order Jersey Mike’s. I texted her what I wanted. She texted back that they were closed, nevermind. I offered again to go pick up In-N-Out or whatever she wanted. She refused. She can be extremely stubborn. Both of my girls are stubborn… they get it from me. Anyway, she texted me a little while later that she had ordered Rally’s, aka Checker’s in some states, and got me what I usually get. Since nothing was sounding good to me, that worked. I thanked her.

I went to put the key in the door (keyed deadbolt to try to keep Ben inside. Even though he figured out that if he kicks the door enough times, the bolt will wiggle open, it will still slow him down, and alert us that he’s trying to leave), and turn the porch light on. I also took out all the trash since I was in the door area. I grabbed the mail on the way back in.

I got a lovely surprise gift from a friend and Daughter got something that wasn’t a bill or credit card offer. I took it to her, then went to open mine. I went back to show her what I’d gotten and she was crying. She handed me a card with a handwritten note. It was on hospital stationery and it was from one of the Charge Nurses she works with. It said the Nurse listened when Daughter was making rounds and answering calls, that she spent time talking to her patients and that she was very caring. It also praised her work, getting her stuff done, helping her coworkers, etc. The Charge Nurse wrote that she wanted Daughter to know she was doing great and that her patients and coworkers appreciated her, that SHE appreciated Daughter. It was exactly what Daughter needed after feeling so overwhelmed and discouraged lately.

So, tears again, but they were Happy Tears. Interesting that we should both receive happy surprise mail on the same random Friday. Anyway, I ate my food, took my pill around midnight and konked out pretty quickly.

Ben and Zeus woke me up at 3:00am. I was able to convince Ben to get in bed with me for a little while, but by 4:30am I was Couch Sittin. Ben was extremely hyper! ADHD overdrive. It happens that way sometimes. My logical brain knew the pacing, scripting and constant, restless motion was something he had no control over… my tired, grumpy brain wanted him to sit down, calm down and just CHILL OUT! I was probably grumpier than I should’ve been. I guess it’s good that he was pretty much ignoring everything I said.

He decided at 5am that he wanted to to put one of his Tower thingies on top of Sven’s terrarium, something he does every morning. I tried to tell him it was too early to wake Sven up, but he was ignoring me, so he did it anyway. Sven was NOT pleased. His beard was SO black.

Since he was awake, I decided to go ahead and get his food. Yes, and paparazzi him.

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When the four worms were gone, Sven looked at the greens with distaste, then went to perch against his house with his back to me. Attitude… from a lizard… before sunrise. Sheesh!

I convinced Ben to play with his dominoes and quit pacing. Sven moved to his rock and Zeus got on the couch next to me. I guess he was trying to remind me of his presence and show me that he was listening and being calm. Or he just wanted to lay on the couch.

As soon as it started to get light outside, Ben went out to sweep. He loves to madly sweep dirt into the air. When he was in preschool he threw sand in the air, it’s one of his visual things. He likes watching the light on the particles. I wish I could get him to sweep the dirt into his dirt hole, or into a pile… something useful. Instead, it gets picked up by the breeze and we’ve lost yards of soil. We need to find a construction site with free fill-dirt.

Anyway, Ben was sweeping, then he climbed up into the Pecan tree. Kids gotta climb trees, it’s a Law or something. I took pictures of the sunrise and Zeus chased Diesel Cat. Daughter was still sleeping.

Lots of birds this morning. Mostly crows, but I saw some smaller pairs, but couldn’t identify them. I was looking into the sunrise, they were too far away and flying too fast. I saw a pair that I think were hummingbirds. They seemed to be playing as they zipped past me, high overhead, circling each other and flying in criss-crossing patterns. I got such a feeling of joy just from watching them.

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After sunrise was over Ben, Zeus, and I settled in the living room. I closed up the house early and set the AC at 70°F (21°C). It was kicking on every once in a while at first, but by 9:30am it was running constantly. It was aalready 80°F (27°C) at 9:30am and supposed to get up to 94°F (34°C) by noon. It’s better than the 103°F (39.5°C) of yesterday.

Anyway, The Boys fought over the spot next to me on the couch, with Ben always winning, and we just hung out. Ben was getting set up by the Bath Room, near the skylight with his chalk when Daughter got up around 10am. I gave my report and went to get Horizontal. I’d been Couch Sittin, with a break to watch the sunrise, for nearly six hours. I was ready to stretch out. I also needed a break from Ben. He’d been calmer than he was when he first got up, but he was still thrumming with energy and it was starting to make me a little twitchy.

Unfortunately Ben followed me into my room. He started hitting his head on the mirrored closet door and falling back on the bed. He was scripting some line or sentence, something, as he did this ten or fifteen times, but I didn’t understand what he was saying. I asked him to stop, but he was back to ignoring me. I told him that if he wanted to fall on a bed, he should go to his room an fall on his bed. He finally finished falling and Bedquakin me and went back to the living room. Hallelujah!

After Ben stopped Bedquaking me I was able to really relax and you all know what happens when I slow down or stop moving… Yep! I started to doze. Apparently Ben and Zeus have formed a secret pact, (maybe that’s what the giggling is about when Ben is supposed to be sleeping) because as soon as I was about to cross the line from doze to sleep, Zeus was pawing and yipping at me. WTH??! I got up and opened the side door, thinking he needed to go outside. Then I sat down on the bed. He won’t go out if I stand by the door, he’s afraid he’ll be locked out, which has NEVER happened to him here. He was two years old when we adopted him from the shelter, so who knows what his first two years were like. He was picked up as a stray. But c’mon! He’s lived with us almost three years… get over it already. Anyway, he didn’t go outside. In fact, as soon as I was up, he laid down. Apparently he just wanted to wake me up. The Big Dumb Jerk! GRRR!!!

Daughter took her clothes out to the washer around 1:15pm. She brought the load I washed yesterday inside so when her stuff is done I can take them across the street to the dryers. Yep! It was time to visit the Quarter Lady again.

Around 2:00 I brought Daughter’s clothes inside from the washer, without injury, TYVM! Then I put on my mask and took the clothes to the dryers. My eyes were searching, searching, searching for the Quarter Lady, but the metal thingy was rolled down over the window and there was only one person in the place. Alrighty then… I dropped the clothes by my favorite dryers and went to the machine to change a $5 like the old days, before the feud. Came back home, parked and walked over to market. Ben asked for more Oreos this morning and he was out of Poofs. Gotta make sure Ben is stocked up.

Around 3:30 it was time to go get the clothes. Still no one at the laundromat. No Quarter Lady encounter today. I wonder if she thinks she scared me off or if we are no longer at war? There will always be laundry, so there will be another opportunity to meet the Quarter Lady. Anyway, I brought the clothes home, folded them and put them away. Ben was laying on my bed when I left and he was still there when I got back. While I was folding all his jammas I told him that he has to go with me tonight to Drive Miss Daisy. He asked about Auntie. I told him Auntie is working. Unfortunately it’s true. She’s working until 10pm tonight, so there’s no way she can be here. He was getting too used to her being here anyway. I totally appreciate her helping out and Ben and I both love seeing her, but I’m sure she’d rather not on some nights. Ben fussed about it a little bit, but I think it was mostly because he’s just contrary by nature.

We’ll be starting the Pregame Show pretty soon. We decided to start everything a little earlier tonight since he got up so early. Sometimes he’s in and out of the bath quickly and sometimes he spends forty-five minutes playing in the water. We figured if we start early, we’ll have fewer chances of problems. If Daughter is early to work, she can hang out in the break room or the cafeteria or whatever.

A fun song, it makes me want to have some nighttime Adventures…

Thanks, as always for hanging out with us! Except for the extremely early wakeup, it was a pretty good day. I didn’t injure myself (knock on wood), and even though Ben had Ants In His Pants, he was in a fairly good mood all day. We have to Drive Miss Daisy twice tomorrow, in the morning to pick her up and she works tomorrow night. Younger may be able to come from work tomorrow night. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, together. It’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow too, so that will be nice. Every day is different. Every day is an opportunity for adventures. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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