Part 212 ~ 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.

I started taking pictures around 5:30-5:45 last night, both Ben and Daughter were still sleeping. I probably should’ve woken them both up, Ben so he would have a few hours of awake time, and Daughter to take care of Ben. I didn’t want to deal with either of them being grumpy, especially at sunset when I was Gathering Scientific Data.

Daughter woke up and came out of her room during the Intermission time. She woke Ben up and gave him his night meds. This was around 6:45pm. Then she herded him to the baño, had him do his thing and cleaned his face and hands. Then it was off to his room for clean jammas and his bed. He was acting like he was still sleepy. After Intermission, I took a few more pictures, then started editing them.

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Ben was awake in his room for a while, I could hear him laughing and scripting. Daughter had gone to her room, and I stayed in mine. I dozed a little after I was done editing the pictures. I tried very hard to stay awake, but kept nodding off.

Finally around 8:30pm I got up, moved around, and started playing a game on my phone… a game with obnoxious sounds that I usually mute. Last night the sound was full volume. After about twenty or thirty minutes of that, I was awake enough to take care of sending the sunset pictures to my WP media file, and to write a couple emails that needed writing.

Finished the second one around 10:30pm and went to nuke a couple burritos. I needed to eat something, even though I didn’t feel like eating. I started going through my WP comments while they cooled, then ate them as I continued through the comments and started going through the reader.

I’m sure there are posts that I missed, but I was starting to doze again. Daughter had gone back to sleep and I needed to sleep, obviously. I woke from a doze at 12:30am to Ben and Zeus exiting Ben’s room. He had been quiet for a while, but I have no idea if he slept, dozed or just quietly watched his tablet for a while. He used the Bath Room and went back to his room. I took my pill, knowing I needed to get some sleep. I was hoping he’d stay quietly in his room. Zeus refused to go back, Big Dumb Jerk!

Ben did stay in his room or he was quiet in his wanderings. He came in and woke me around 1:30am, asking for my tablet. He woke me a few more times, then at 4:00am the dreaded words “Gramma come living room, please.” I tried to talk him into getting into bed with me but no dice. He brought me his empty water bottle, encouraging me to get out of bed. Poop!

By 4:15am I was Couch Sittin. I went and looked at Mars in the west, and Venus in the east. It was still full dark, no sign of dawn or even pre-dawn. I drank coffee, I got his tablet charger, I went through my email and some of my WP comments… and I dozed. I couldn’t help it. The medication was still telling my brain to switch off, and I wanted to sleep. I also wanted to get some of my Stuff done so I could sleep without worry when Daughter got up. So I dozed, not really accomplishing anything.

I was in and out, but around 5:30am Ben woke me to open a can of soda for him. After that, I got up and started my eastern sky watching and picture taking. At 6am I uncovered Sven, turned his lights on, got him food and paparazzi’d him. Poor Sven still had that piece of blackberry stuck to the tip of his mouth, so I got it off for him.

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He got mad at missing the other piece of blackberry he was after and at me taking pictures, so I left him to go back to sunrise.

I was back and forth, checking on Ben and editing pictures. At 6:30am I gave him his meds. He was laying on the couch next to me, under a blanket. After his meds, he pulled the blanket over his head. I told him I was gonna take more pictures, but doubt he heard me with earbuds in.

Around 7am, Zeus came wiggling and yipping at me and I figured Daughter must’ve gotten up since there aren’t any wells for Ben to fall down… I went inside and said Good Morning, then went back out. I was waiting for the Sun to actually make its appearance. While I was waiting, I harvested a pocketful of pecans. There are still some areas of the tree I haven’t even looked at yet. It’s going to be an abundant harvest! The Sun made its appearance and my pocket was full, so I went inside to get Horizontal.

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Venus is visible in the first five pictures. I probably (definitely) went overboard with the pictures. It’s difficult for me to choose. This isn’t ALL the pictures. I’ll work on reducing the number of pictures per event. Let me know how many is too many and how many is just right. I create these posts for myself, sure… but they’re also for you, and if you’re just scrolling through the pictures because there are too many, that’s not good for either of us. I appreciate honesty, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want an honest answer.

At 11:30am Daughter asked me to take over Couch Sittin Duty. She wasn’t feeling well. She said she had a slight fever and there was so much pressure in her sinuses that it was making her ears hurt. She set up an appointment with tele-med to see what she should do. She probably needs to get a Kootie test since she’s a nurse. She hasn’t been exposed as far as we know, and the hot, dry, windy weather we’ve been having causes a lot of sneezing and runny noses. Ben has been sneezing and dripping too. So I took over Couch Sittin and she went to lay down and wait for the doctor to call her. Ben was doing his chalk thang and scripting Angry Words when I started my Duty. He asked for more chalk, then went rooting around in my closet. I told him I don’t have anymore chalk. I gave him the last box yesterday, but I was able to show him where I ordered more. It should be here by Wedsnday. Six boxes of it. He wasn’t happy, but he went back to his chalk. I’m glad I have a good record with him on stuff ordered and delivered.

A little after noon, Daughter came to tell me the doctor advised her to go to urgent care and get a chest x-ray. She called the urgent care to see what the wait time was, and no one was waiting, so we got ourselves and Ben ready super fast and went. She told us to go home and she’d call. I asked if she was sure, we could wait a little while. She said “Go home” so I did what I was told.

Ben and I were home literally five minutes when she texted that she was done. So I grabbed Ben’s socks and shoes he’d just asked me to take from him and put them back on his feet. I told Dogzilla to “behave, no more trash” cuz he’d gotten into the trash while we were gone dropping her off, and off Ben and I went, back to get Daughter.

Her x-ray was clear, but there’s wheezing so the doctor called two different steroid inhalers into the pharmacy for her. They also did a COVID swab, since she’s a nurse and just because. She can’t go back to work until she has a negative test result and the soonest they’ll have her results is Monday. So she’s off work until next Friday unless she picks up shifts, which I wouldn’t advise.

Around 3pm I went up to the pharmacy to get Daughter’s inhalers. Only one was ready, they had to order the other one. One is better than none. I also got the Blue Ramen I forgot the last time I was at the store. Then I went to the pet store to get worms for Mr Grumpy Beard. I got him some blueberries at the grocery too.

I laid down when I got home. I felt like I’d been on a treadmill or hamster wheel… running, running, running and going nowhere. I felt like I’d been busy all day though I really hadn’t done much. I think it’s probably the sleep deprivation that makes running simple errands feel like treks to the back of beyond.

Daughter will be making something for Ben’s dinner soon, and I’ll be starting to Gather my Sciencey Data. The evening in entering the final hours before The Boys are tucked in. Then maybe I can rest too. After I do my Things and Stuff.

Heard this on the radio on one of the trips back and forth to Urgent Care… it’s catchy.

Another mostly sleepless, weird day. Or a normal Casa Cuckoo day, cuz every day is different. The weather was much cooler today, thank goodness and not having to worry about Driving Miss Daisy until next Friday is nice. Now we wait for her Kootie Test results. Maybe Monday, maybe not til Wednesday. I’m not worried about it. Daughter is sick, but she’s not Super sick. Rest is what she needs most, and not working, she’ll be able to rest. Tomorrow there is absolutely nothing on the agenda. I was going to wash Ben’s hair tonight cuz I’ve been doing it on Saturdays, but since I don’t have to worry about the usual crazy Sunday night and Monday morning chaos, I will probably just do it tomorrow night. Maybe he will sleep tonight and there’ll be less chance of crankiness tomorrow. Or I might do it tonight… who knows? I know that every day is a new Adventure. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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