Part 194 ~ 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.

Last night, Daughter tried to wake Ben up several times but he was grumpy and very tired. At 5:45pm she had a difficult time getting him to sit up and take his night meds. Then she sent him to the bathroom and off to bed. We put some Apple Jacks and Cheezits on his bedside table in case he woke up hungry. He didn’t eat dinner, or have a bath. He didn’t get very dirty, so a bedbath with wipes is what he got.

I did my Science. I’m still playing with different places along the west side of the house to use as a vantage point. The side door is elevated so it really gives the best vantage.

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I did my Night Things, I ate the food Daughter had delivered, I wrote emails and texted with Younger (she had a wisdom tooth pulled) and I did WP stuff. I was getting the dozes, so I took my pill and konked out… midnight-ish.

Ben got me up at 5:15am. He got in bed with me for a little while before he commanded me to the living room. I did the usual Getting Up With Ben things and I went out to see if I could see Venus before the sun started coming up. I was able to see it! That satisfied my new Scientific side and made my child-like, wonder and awe side jump up and down with joy… metaphorically. I was too tired and wobbly to do real jumping.

I woke Sven up a little earlier than usual, he wasn’t pleased. Shocking, I know… I compensated with three big worms and mixed greens. I had to use both of the small dishes cuz it wouldn’t all fit in one. Daughter ordered the wrong size, it happens. He was having such a hard time… his terrible aim and all… that I gathered up the scattered greens, both dishes and combined it all into a small plastic bowl. There was still one worm left and Sven could see it through the clear plastic, but kept aiming at the bowl. It was pretty funny. I took pity again and took what was left and put it in one dish with the worm on top. I don’t know if Sven got it, or if it burrowed under the greens. Sven was tired of the changing bowls and went to his Judgey Corner.

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In between switching bowls and paparazzi-ing Sven, I went out to look at the sunrise. And take pictures, natch. I was also doing some Arts and Crafts for Ben, who as always, needed Help and Tape. Daughter got up around 6:20am. I brewed a bit of her (nasty) Pumpkin Spice coffee, then made a pot of real coffee… still going out the side door and around the house to the back gate to see the eastern sky. She was in charge of Ben, and getting him ready, though I did help.

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Finally it was 7:20am and she took him out to wait for the bus. She called me about a minute later to tell me he wouldn’t leave the driveway. It’s where he always waited. I was standing in my bedroom window and saw the bus turning the corner, and told her. I also told her I’d come help.

I grabbed my mask and shoes and went out to help get him to the bus. She’d gotten him to walk around to the parking lot, but he didn’t want to let go of his tablet. I got it from him and fixed his mask. He got on the bus grumpy. He was grumpy as soon as I mentioned school earlier in the morning when I was brushing and rebraiding his hair. Changes in the weather affect him and the pressure is definitely high today. Anyway, we waved bye-bye to the bus and went back inside the house to Happy Dance.

Then I got more coffee and headed to my room for Horizontal Time. I’d been up on my feet, walking all over the house and yard, then the sidewalk for over two hours. I started editing the pictures I’d taken of sunrise and Sven, cropping and deleting but no filters or other changes. I got the dozes… it happens every time I stop moving. And I nodded off. I let myself sleep. Why not, since Ben was at school and I didn’t have anything to do. Dogzilla woke me up barking at an amazon delivery and again just being a butthead. I tried to stay awake around 9:45am and finish editing the dang pictures. I always take too many. If I posted all the pictures, I’m sure you’d all be scrolling right on past, I probably would too. Anyway, I slept again… and woke up around 11:30am.

It was easier, not easy, easi-er… to stay awake at 11:30 cuz I realized I only had a couple hours til Ben was done with school. I hadn’t finished editing the pictures, I hadn’t gone through my reader or my comments… I was behind! I didn’t have a total panic, but I did get enough adrenaline to wake me all the way up.

I finished the editing and choosing of pictures for this post and I went through my email. Before I knew it, I got a text notification that Ben was on the bus… Dang!

I changed clothes and went to ask Daughter if she wanted anything from the market, I was walking over to get diet coke and poofs for Ben. She told me to get him Crazy Bread from the Little Ceaser’s next door to the market. So I walked over and got the stuff. Dang, it was hot outside. Yucky hot! I brought the stuff home and stood in front of the AC unit talking to Daughter and waiting for the bus to go by. There’s no way we were gonna stand out in the sun waiting for it.

It went by and we pulled our masks up and walked around the corner to the parking lot. We got Ben and walked back around to the house. The aide on the bus said he had a good day and did fine on the bus both ways. Excellent!

He was ready to strip off all the clothes he was wearing. I got his shoes and socks off and was getting ready to take off the long pants and discovered they were on backwards. I told Daughter his pants were on backwards and her reply was that she’d put him in shorts, he changed. I was thinking “didn’t you look at him before you left?” but I didn’t say it. No reason to pick a useless fight.

I got Ben out of all his clothes, he wanted to wear a nightgown, so I put him in one. Why not? He’s not going anywhere until we take Daughter to work in a couple days. No bus for him until next Monday. He’s supposed to Zoom for the rest of the week.

Ben came in and Bounced me and started playing with Zeus, then he said “I’m sleepy.” and pretended to snore. I told him if he wanted to sleep, go to his room. I told him I’d tickle him, “get” him if he tried to sleep. He made snoring sounds again, so I got him. It made Ben giggle, but made Zeus bark. I had to stop tickling Ben to shush the Big Dummy. After a couple rounds I had to tell Ben we couldn’t play that game anymore cuz his dog wouldn’t stop barking. I checked on him every few minutes to make sure he was awake.

Around 4pm I got up to get more coffee, I was still sleepy from earlier, from life in general, plus it was warm and stuffy in my room. Zeus followed me immediately, of course, and Ben came out a couple minutes later, as I knew he would. That was part of my purpose. I wanted him back in the AC, out from under my blankets. I really wouldn’t mind staying in bed until 6:30am or even *gasp* 7:00am tomorrow morning. The chances of that happening increase if Ben stays awake and follows the routine.

Daughter will be cooking Ben’s steak soon, then it will be bath and bedtime. No Driving Miss Daisy and unfortunately, no packing a lunchbox and backpack. No drama, no stress, no worries. Just a little Science later and hopefully a relaxing evening.

A new song and video from Rise Against. Time to bang your head, Metal Style!

I’m very glad you stopped by for the Mad Morning rush around, then stuck around for the snoring and drooling. No Glorious Little Yellow School Bus tomorrow… very sad. Tomorrow we resume the futility of Zoom… or maybe we don’t. We’ll find out tomorrow… together. Whatever we do, we’ll make it fun! ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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