Part 227 ~ 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.

Ben ate chicken nuggets and watched his tablet. I got his hair brushed out and rebraided, then went to watch sunset. It was so cloudy, I was afraid there wouldn’t be anything to see. Boy, was I wrong!

Ben had his meds at 5:30. Younger and Partner arrived about that time. Daughter had invited Younger over to carve pumpkins, maybe eat pizza… hang out with Ben. He thought it was great, said they were going to have a picnic and took his Kittys, tablet and chicken nuggets to the living room and sat with his Auntie and Partner. It was very sweet.

I kept taking pictures because the sky kept changing. At one point Younger and I were standing in the side doorway, looking at the sky and both of us were very quiet… I told her that it felt like I was falling into the sky, like Up and Down had switched. She knew what I meant, she said “Exactly!” It was nice to share sunset with someone who loves it like I do. Older doesn’t care about the pretty sky.

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I gave Ben his bath at 5:45pm, like normal, then he played for a while. Then he was ready for bedtime. He gave everyone kisses, even Sven, who was being held by Partner. Younger and Partner left shortly after The Boys were tucked in.

Then I did Things and some Stuff and ate two pieces of pizza while I was editing all the pictures I’d taken. I almost forgot that tonight was a full moon. I went to take pictures. I was happy to see Mars above the Moon in the eastern sky, and Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky. I’m like an Astronomy Scientist now. Like, totally.

I ate some pasta, then took my pill around 11pm. I was asleep before midnight… WOOT WOOT! Yay Me! Calories AND sleep!

The med alarm preceded by the whining, then barking of the Big Dumb one woke me just before 6:30am. I went to let Dogzilla out of Ben’s room and he headed straight for mine. Oh, no!! I told him “Go potty!” and pointed to the open side door. He looked confused, so I told him again, “Go potty! If you’re gonna bark to be let out, you better have a Potty Emergency or the house better be on fire, not just wanting to see me. Your job is taking care of Ben while he sleeps. Go. Potty.” I don’t know if he understood the words, but he got the message. He went outside. Ben got up a few minutes later and by 6:40am we were in the living room. I glanced at the stove as I was getting coffee and realized I hadn’t changed that clock… it read 7:45am. Ah, yes… that meant that I got nearly EIGHT HOURS of sleep. It was a Great Pumpkin miracle, Charlie Brown!

After Ben was settled and had his meds, I attended to the other male in the house… yes, Mr Grumpy Beard was still covered and unlit. I quickly remedied that, and got him fresh food. One surviving worm joined two new ones on top of fresh greens and blueberries. Then I took pictures until I got The Glare. ALWAYS good for a giggle, our Sven!

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I started going through email and my WP comments and saw that Sadje had nominated me for a blogging award.

You can check out the rules and other details on Sadje’s post. I’m not going to follow all the rules anyway… I’m a rebel!

I started my blog on a whim one night, and it sat gathering dust, forgotten for a few months. Then I did a few posts, the same “Gee, I hope you like me, write a comment and follow my blog, please!” that a lot of new bloggers do. And until I started this Adventures series, I still wrote more in comments on other blogs than in my own posts. I enjoy the community and was always a reader before a writer.

I’m supposed to give two pieces of advice. I’d say write in your own “voice”, be yourself. Write what you care about and people will be drawn to you. Have fun and forget the stats. They don’t matter unless you’re trying to make money. Another piece of advice… engage with other bloggers. Leave thoughtful comments and they’ll likely return the favor. I have a few “followers” who have been with me since the beginning and most of my followers have become Blogging Buddies and some are even offline friends.

These awards are good for getting the word out on new blogs or under-recognized blogs. I’ve recently “met” a new-ish blogger and I’d like to introduce her to you. Her name is Melanie and she has two sons with autism like Ben. She writes on a variety of subjects with hope and a great sense of humor.

Thanks again, Sadje! We now return to our Adventures.

Daughter got up around 9am. She’d stayed up late in preparation for work tonight. She took over Couch Sittin Duty and I got Horizontal. I had put my and Ben’s clothes in the wash earlier and let Daughter know that when she put her stuff in, as she grabbed our stuff out, to grab our masks out to hang them up to dry.

Ben stayed with his Mama except for a brief Arts and Crafts project where I had to write “The End” again, and double sticky some tape so The End and A Walt Disney Production could be together on one paper. I think he wanted me to write them both again, but Gramma wasn’t playin that!

Daughter put her load of clothes in to wash around 10:30am, after giving Ben his med. My appointment with the Quarter Lady was imminent. Around noon I got Daughter’s clothes, put on some Public clothes and took the laundry to the dryers. The Quarter Lady was there, on the other side of the laundromat, talking to another patron. I tried to catch her eye, but she ignored me. I put our clothes in, fed in the quarters I had, and went to get more. I tried to catch her attention again, and again she ignored me, apparently deep in conversation. I don’t know what they were talking about, I can understand some Spanish but it has to be slow and simple… like Sesame Street Spanish. And No, unlike the xenophobic wingnuts, I did NOT assume they were talking about me because they weren’t using English (cue Carly Simon). At 12:45pm I went back to get the clothes. The Quarter Lady was alone, but still on the other side, and still not meeting my eye. Hmmmm… interesting development. I knew everything wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. Stay tuned for future developments…

Clothes folded and put away, I collapsed on my bed in a puddle of sweat. Gross, I know… possibly a little exaggerated, but the sweat was dripping off my forehead into my eyes. It was quite warm outside, in fact, Daughter switched the AC unit on at noon. It was in the upper 80s, supposed to be 95°F (35°C) on Thor’sDay… in November. This is whining, NOT bragging. It’s gross to be that hot in November.

I really didn’t want to go to the pharmacy today, so I asked Daughter to double check how many Adderall we had, and would we have enough to send some to school and still have some for home? I have prescriptions to fill on the third, so I’d honestly prefer to do it all then. She looked and counted and we’re good. He only takes half at school, and he only goes two days, so we could send two pills and that would be good for two weeks. Obviously we will send more before the end of two weeks. YAY! No store, and no other errands. Good deal.

I went out into the back yard to look at the sky and to see if the crows had left me any feathers yet. No feathers, but while I was out there I decided to harvest some pecans. I could’ve kept going, I pretty much stayed in one spot, no climbing, but both of my pockets were full. I came inside to offload my pockets and completely filled one of the containers I keep them in to dry. I already have a gallon storage bag completely stuffed with them, and I’m working on a second one. I still don’t know what I’m going to DO with all of them, and I actually haven’t tried one yet this year, I hope they’re good. That would be a great joke, eh? Find out after harvest that all the pecans taste terrible. I’m sure I could scatter them somewhere for the birds and squirrels… somewhere far from my cats.

It’s gonna be Sciencey Data Gathering time soon… now that sunset is an hour earlier. Daughter will be making “white chicken” for Ben’s dinner, then the Schedule so we can Drive Miss Daisy.

Great song and the video is super cool!

I’m so grateful for each and every one of you! I truly have the Best “followers” in all of Bloglandia! Thank you for always being so supportive and putting a smile on my face every day! Tomorrow is a GLYSB day, Hurray! Happy Dancing at 7:30am PST. Unfortunately, Daughter is working tonight, so tomorrow morning will be a bit chaotic, but I think we’ll have some fun in the madness. Then we can relax and enjoy the quiet, or go on a secret, private Adventure… not like that, get your mind out of the gutter! I meant Daughter will be sleeping so it will just be me… and Zeus, and Sven, and maybe one or both cats… ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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