Part 238 ~ 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 finished my Sciencey Data Gathering, then hung out with Ben in my room until Intermission was over. I was a little late getting back to the show, it was almost over. I doubt I really missed much, no clouds.

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At 5:30pm Ben said he was ready for bedtime. Daughter told him that he needed his bath and meds before he could go to bed. He sat next to her and watched a movie on her laptop with her. At 5:45pm she gave him meds and he told her again that he was ready for bed. I heard and came out to start his bath. I reminded Daughter that he got up at 4:30am that morning. I got him clean, then left him to play. He pulled the plug almost immediately. He really was ready for bed. I helped him with his robe, and he told Daughter “I going bedtime now” She told him she’d be there in a minute, she was trying to brush tangles out of her hair. Ben gave me a kiss and headed off to his room. Zeus looked at me wondering if I was going to excuse him. I told him to “Go on… bedtime, Good Dawg.”

I texted Younger to see what time she got off work, and ask if she wanted to come in to get her package or if she just wanted me to put it in the mailbox. She texted that the mailbox was fine, she was tired. She probably would’ve come to get it another time, but it was gloves for Partner, who works overnight as security for an office complex. Daughter wanted Partner to have the gloves for work that night.

I put the package in the mailbox and took some trash out to the bin. I covered Sven, who was already half asleep, and turned his lights off. Then I did the Things and some Stuff, food, pill, snoring and drooling… rinse, repeat.

The Bounce/cuddle/warmth theft occurred around 6am this morning. I ignored the 6:30 med alarm cuz we was still cuddling. Ben’s version of cuddling, but with Ben, you take what you can get. My dominant Responsibility Gene nagged me into getting up and getting the day started. It was okay if his meds were a little late, but I didn’t want to throw the whole schedule off. Plus, sunrise was calling, and I had to pee.

Ben was on the couch when I exited the baño, so I did the med right away, after I found and refilled his water bottle. Then I went out to the gate to check out the sky. There were actually a few clouds along the eastern horizon, and there was one spot that had a rainbow. Not a complete rainbow, but definitely a prism effect. It was very cool, and my phone camera didn’t do it justice. I even tried the “pro” setting, but that didnt help much either. When my seagull arrived, I was even more excited and happy.

TANGENT: I did a little reading about gulls… they can live up to Thirty Years. It’s possible that the gull I used to watch for when I was bedridden, is the same gull I am seeing now. Possible. I also read that gulls mate for life. That other gull was probably the mate. Gulls are very protective of their eggs and chicks and will fight to the death to protect them. It can take up to four years for a gull to mature, and one more fact, they have a gland by their eye that enables them to extract the salt from seawater. They can drink seawater. FIN

Ben was in the blanket cave with his tablet while I was geeking out on sunrise rainbows, and talking to the seagull and saying Good Morning to the crows. Another fun fact… some birds – pigeons, crows and gulls, forex… can recognize human faces, voices and body language. They’re actually very intelligent. That gull probably does recognize me, and recognizes my good intentions.

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Anyway, I sat down next the blanket cave, and a voice said “I need help.” I’d only had a few sips of coffee, but I was pretty sure the voice came from the blanket cave. I asked “Help with what?” The voice said “Movie on.” I looked at the TV and sure enough, Hocus Pocus was no longer playing. I got up and tried to start it… “disc error”. I did all the things one does to make a gadget work, reasonable and superstitious… nada. I eventually tried a different disc, with permission from HRH, but Fantasia wouldn’t work either. I finally went and got the DVD player from Ben’s room, making sure Fantasia would play on it first. I switched them out and Ben got a little upset at the change until the movie started playing. I couldn’t find the remote, somewhere in his room, and that player doesn’t have the repeat option. Crisis controlled, catastrophe contained… Gramma Angie struck a Superhero pose, then returned to Couch Sittin Duty.

We sat together, with him giving occasional commands and me doing milords will, until 9:30am or so. I was getting more coffee and he took off down the hall. A few minutes later I heard Daughter talking to him. I had heard her coughing and moving around earlier, he’d probably heard her too, and that’s why he went down to her room. I went to check to make sure everything was okay. Daughter said no problem, she’d been awake, they were gonna watch a movie on her laptop. Cool! I gathered my stuff and got Horizontal.

When the 10:30 med alarm went off, I got up and got the med and Ben’s water bottle, and took them to Daughter. Then I went to Sven. I’d uncovered him earlier, but he closed his eyes again after a few seconds, so I’d left him. When I went back at 10:30, I grabbed his dish, picked the wilted greens out, got most of the worm poop out and got a few fresh berries. I put the dish back in, and moved Sven closer.

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He cracks me up!! His aim is SOOO bad, and the faces he makes, and that tongue… just funny! He did finally get some berries and then I got The Glare, so I went back to my room.

Daughter put her clothes in the washer and brought my and Bens stuff in the house. Around 12:30pm I took my clothes and her clothes over to the laundromat to put them in the dryers. I walked in and went straight to my favorite dryers, to set the baskets down, then I walked to the back to the change machine, looking for the Quarter Lady. There were a few people using a few machines, but I didn’t see her. The office was open, so someone was there. I got my $5 changed and saw a lady bent at the waist, cleaning the inside of a large, front loading washer. Hmmm… was that the Quarter Lady? It was not. It was a woman I’d briefly seen talking to the Quarter Lady, once before… must be an employee. I smiled exaggeratedly behind my mask and said Hello when she looked at me after hearing my coins drop like I’d won at a slot machine. She said Hello back, and I could feel her eyes on my back as I walked toward the doors, before turning to the left and my dryers. I peeked over my shoulder, and yeah, she was looking. I put the clothes in, fed the quarters in and went home. At 1:30pm I went back to get them. No Quarter Lady, No Cleaner Lady, and the office was closed. Another anti-climactic visit. Sorry folks… we’ll keep an eye on this Cleaner Lady too. She obviously works for the Quarter Lady, so we’ll see what happens.

I brought the clothes home, folded them and put them away, then tried to get caught up on WP. I was behind this morning because of the DVD player, and Ben had several Arts and Crafts projects for me throughout the day. He timed them just right, to be annoyingly interrupting. He didn’t mean to, but it’s just the way it worked out.

At 3:20pm I went outside and took pictures of the Sun from the gate – over the apartment building, and standing on the chair. I’m going to have to start measuring over the apartment building. That’s the only place that has a clear line of sight to the south. Unfortunately, it goes behind the building about an hour before true sunset in our valley, and nearly two hours before the Sun drops below the horizon of the Pacific Ocean. I had to remind myself that the project was about tracking the movement, not the time. This will make it a lot easier actually. The apartment building is a straight line, the movement will be easier to see.

Daughter will be cooking Ben’s “white chicken” soon. Then we’ll have bath time and get him ready to Drive Miss Daisy. We’re still adjusting to the time change. Ben has the hardest time with it, since he doesn’t pay attention to clocks anyway. I’ll be watching the sunset, even if I can’t see where it’s setting. The colors are still pretty, and twilight time is my favorite time of day.

A band from San Diego that had a cult following. This song just popped into my head… random

I’m glad that you came by today. The laundromat wasn’t as expected, but things at or around Casa Cuckoo rarely are. We’re Driving Miss Daisy tonight and picking her up in the morning. She has Friday night off, then works Saturday and Sunday. Her schedule is going to be weird for the rest of the month because of Thanksgiving weekend. I don’t think we have any other plans for tomorrow, she’ll be sleeping part of the day anyway. I’ll be awake, and all the Boys will be awake… Ben, Zeus and Sven. Stop on by… share our Adventures. You never know what’s going to happen. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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