Part 200 ~ 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.

Yesterday evening… I eventually got Ben into the tub and got him cleaned up, then left him to play. Then I went to take pictures for Science. WHOA! The sky had definitely changed a lot from the last time I was outside, around 1:30pm. I took a few quick pictures and went to check on Ben… who was dripping water everywhere with no bathrobe on. UGH! I got him into his bathrobe and got his “orange chicken” for him. Then I started picking up his chalk, I didn’t want him covered in chalk dust after his bath. Then, more Sciencey Stuff Data Gathering.

I came back in to see Ben dumping the chalk I had just picked up. Daughter was getting irritated. I went over, squatted down and started picking it up again. Ben was saying “What did you do?” He does that, asks questions, it’s scripting. I told him he dumped the chalk because he was angry. I told him I understood that he wanted to keep playing with the chalk, but chalk time was over and it was okay to be angry about that. I told him I wished he would use his words and tell us it made him feel angry instead of dumping the chalk and making a mess for me to clean up, maybe he could work on using words next time he was angry. Then I went to take more pictures.

Daughter got him into his nightgown and I asked if he wanted a soda with his dinner. Chalk Incident over. Daughter went to get ready for work, so I was back and forth between the couch and the side door. His meds were kicking in, so he was calming down. He ate and watched his tablet.

At 6:20pm Daughter was ready to go. I got Ben’s shoes on, helped him carry his stuff and we headed to the car. We dropped Daughter off at the hospital and drove back home. I got Ben and his stuff into the house, got his socks, shoes and sweater off him and got him and Zeus settled in bed. Whew!

I texted Daughter to let her know we were home and took the folding chair to the car, checking the sky… the pretties were mostly over. Back inside I took a few pictures from the side door, playing with the light level and “Photo” vs “Pro”.

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Yep! The Parrots flew off while I was taking pictures. They stayed in two large flocks as they flew off. Too bad they were so far west… it’s difficult to see anything except a bunch of birds. Seeing them always, ALWAYS gives me a rush of joy!

Anyway, Sciencey Stuff done, The Boys in bed, and time for Night Things. I got them done and was Horizontal, writing an email and kept fading out… almost nodding off. I lost the battle a couple times. It took me about an hour and a half to write a simple email.

Daughter kinda helped me stay awake by texting me. I was going back and forth between email and text. Her shift last night was as a “sitter”. It’s when a patient needs someone in the room at all times. It’s generally for mental health reasons, but also for some medical reasons. The patient she was “Sitting” with was a seventeen year old attempted suicide. It broke Daughter’s heart. The patient’s mother was visiting and talking to her child about going to church and talking to God. (The family is Catholic and the patient recently came out as homosexual.) The patient asked the mother why they would turn to the church when all their life the church said homosexual people go to hell? A rough night for Daughter. She’s not a Psych Nurse, her job was to make sure the patient didn’t try to hurt themselves again and to monitor their vital signs.

Anyway, I got the email finished and sent. Then I nuked a couple burritos and ate them, and was going through my comments on WP when I konked. I was in and out, I hadn’t taken my pill yet and the stubborn part of me wanted to get a few more things done. (Some of you may have noticed time delays or missing comments or confusing comments. I honestly don’t know what I sent or when I sent it.) Finally at 1am I took my pill. I seriously thought about skipping it since my alarm was set for 6am, but knew if I didn’t take the med, I’d be in and out during those five hours.

Ben, Zeus and the alarm… all together at 6am… I was up and moving but awake wouldn’t happen until a bit later. First, got Ben settled with tablet, refilled water bottle and blanket. Then Zeus’s food. Then the sky for Venus and sunrise in the east… the Moon in the west. Then Sven… who was still asleep and looked more like he’d passed out after a wild party. I cleaned up the mess, left his food and went to do some of the other stuff…

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… I didn’t get as many pictures of Sven this morning. Too much stuff to do in a short amount of time, and Ben was kinda grumpy.

I got him dressed and made sure his backpack was ready, found his kittys and Peppa phone to put in his backpack, got myself ready and took pictures of sunrise and Sven… all in less than an hour. Sunrise was beautiful too… Venus is visible in the pink cloud of the first picture

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… the last picture was taken from the parking lot while we were waiting for the bus. Basically the same view, my back gate was behind me.

I somehow managed to get grumpy Ben, (who had dumped his chalk into a box he wanted taped closed to bring to school) into his mask and backpack, and out the door with his tablet and water bottle… the chalk stayed. I got Ben into the car and buckled up, I got in, took a deep breath and let it out, then texted Daughter that we were OTW. She was late leaving again cuz the dayshift nurse was sitting in the break room, on the clock… not cool! Daughter got to the car, and away we went. I parked in the parking lot again, grabbed the chair from the back and set it up for Ben. There was a huge delivery truck blocking part of the alley/street between the parking lot and the market. It was a tight squeeze for the bus. It would be a LOT easier if the driver would pull up in front of the house, but we’ve had this driver before and she’s kind of an airheas, no use trying to talk her into changing. The drivers change routes in November (I think…) so maybe we’ll get a new driver then. The bus arrived, Ben got on, we waved and blew kisses and then I grabbed the chair and his tablet, Daughter grabbed her backpack and we zombie shuffled to the house… both of us exhausted.

Dogzilla hadn’t made a huge mess, which was a minor miracle. We did a short Happy Dance, then I made more coffee. Daughter cleaned up the dumped chalk and I went around to the gate with the car clicker cuz I couldn’t remember if I’d locked the car. Then she went to her room to watch her shows and sleep, and I got Zeus the last beef bone from the freezer and got Horizontal. Time to do some WP reading and writing, without interruptions, while sipping fresh coffee… in a quiet house. I love school days!

I spent the majority of the time that Ben was gone on WP. Wrting on my blog, reading other blogs and reading, answering and leaving comments. I don’t skim so it takes me a while. The on “responsible” thing I did was put gas in the car and move it from the parking lot to the driveway.

Ben was scanned off the bus at 1:53pm. And he seemed to be in a decent mood. He was looking for his Peppa phone, it must’ve been left at school. He actually didn’t seem overly concerned about it, surprisingly. We came in the housea stripped him down to his shirt and boxer briefs. It was 99°F when I filled th car up. Too dang hot to be wearing sweat pants and a suit jacket and tie… and shoes! Definitely too hot for shoes! I had taken all the old chalk outside and dumped it by his dirt hole. Something good for him to bust when he felt the urge. I left a new box of chalk in the box he’d wanted to take to school. I thought it might be a good distraction for him, help him transition in a relaxed way. Keep him calm, but NOT sleepy. It must’ve worked because I went to my room after he was settled and I didn’t hear any noise from the living room.

Daughter gave Ben his 2:30 meds without me hollering. Nice! About fifteen minutes later she texted, asking me to go to In-N-Out. (A famous burger place that started in SoCal. I know they’re in a few other states now, but it’s still mostly a California thing, and there is ALWAYS a line) I figured if I was gonna go, it was better to go at 3pm-ish than 6pm-ish. Ben was happy doing his chalk thang so there was a good chance the children could behave while I was gone.

There were about twenty cars ahead of me in the drive-thru line. I’ve NEVER seen less than five or six. And twenty was a lot, but when the first In-N-Out opened in San Diego County, the line was hours long. I’m not even exaggerating. So all in all, twenty cars wasn’t too bad. I was in line about a half hour. At least I know I’m having a Double Double, animal style for dinner tonight. I ate my fries right away.

Ben was still doing chalk when I got home. I gave him an order of fries. He doesn’t eat burgers and In-N-Out does hamburgers, cheeseburgers and Double Doubles, fries and shakes. That’s it. No chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Burgers, fries and shakes. (Theres the “secret menu” that everyone knows about, but it’s variations on what they have, burgers) Ben ate a bunch of Blue Ramen when he got home, that and the fries will probably serve as his dinner. Not the most nutritious, but it’ll work for one night.

Daughter is off work for the next few days si there’s no stress, no worries, no rush tonight. We’ll give him his night meds, give him a bath and put him to bed.

Just about time to get Ben ready for bed, and do my Sciencey Stuff. Very relaxed afternoon… except for the food wait and yhe heat, but moods were good.

Love this song. It came on the radio while I was in the line.

How can I express the appreciation I feel for each and every one of you?! THANK YOU! Thank you for reading about the drama and mellow days that make up my life. TWO HUNDRED DAYS! I can’t believe I’ve been writing daily for two hundred days. And you’ve been right here with me and the entire Casa Cuckoo crew all along. You guys are awesome! Another School Day tomorrow. Come hang out with me, maybe I’ll actually do something, instead of laying around. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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