Part 248 ~ 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.

Science around 3:30pm… pretties starting around 4:30…

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Ben had “orange chicken” for dinner. Daughter and I reminded him to eat approximately every five minutes. He was following me around as I was taking pictures.

Then after sunset was over, I went to clean up the chalk mess he’d made. He didn’t even arrange them, just shaved them into piles of dust, in about five or six different places. I was putting the chalk in his tin, and sweeping up the dust, squatting down by each area, and both Ben and Zeus were pacing and walking through it, bumping into me, nearly knocking me over. Then Zeus kept going to his food bowl like “Hey! Where’s MY dinner?”, and finding it empty, getting a drink of water then dripping water over the dust piles. GRRRR! Then I had to get paper towels to clean up the liquefied chalk dust, as Ben and Zeus paced through it. I was doing some serious Huffing and Puffing! Daughter decided to give Ben his meds at 5:30pm instead of 5:45. He’d had a difficult ADHD day. He couldn’t seem to settle for most of the day, and it’s always worse in the evening. Daughter was afraid of the Grey Matter Splatter.

Ben decided he wanted a bubble bath. Cool by me. He’d been wearing his Jack Skellington onesie jammas all day so the dirt coverage was minimal. I cleaned his face and hands and left him to play.

Yadda, yadda, yadda… Drove Miss Daisy, tucked The Boys in, texted Daughter we were home… it was just after 6:30pm. Younger called to ask if she could come by and get a few things. She was off work, going home first, but would let me know when she was on the way.

Things, Stuff, email… at 9:30pm I texted Younger to see if she was still coming. Ben hadn’t gotten quiet until close to 9pm, and I was getting tired. She called to say she was on the way. She didn’t stay long, she had to open at work this morning and she needed to sleep. Me too. I ate the chili and rice I’d made earlier, took my pills and konked around 11pm.

And woke at midnight, and woke at 2:30am, and woke at 4am… I gave up and got up around 5:15am. I don’t know what kept waking me up, but I was NOT pleased. On the way to the baño, I let Zeus out and started the kettle so I could make coffee.

After starting the slow water pouring process, I went to go look at the sky, hoping to see Venus. I saw her, and Mother Nature put on a beautiful show this morning. Georgie and Gracie even stopped by for a few minutes.

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Ben got up around 6am, he settled on the couch or came outside to get me if I was too long taking pictures. Meds were given on time, all the regular morning before picking Daughter up stuff… We left on time with Ben saying “No bus today.” I told him no bus, just getting Mom from work. Daughter told me about her shift on the way home. One of her patients coded five minutes into her shift. They were able to revive him and transfer him back to ICU. He had spent time in ICU previously with COVID Pneumonia and had been doing well so was transferred out. Now the poor guy is back in. One of her patients was waiting for surgery… dude had a huge dildo stuck so far up his rectum that were going to have to surgically remove it. Doctors and nurses see it ALL.

We got home, she went to her room, Ben and I settled in the living room, and the regular routine began. It was pretty chilly in the house so I left Sven covered a while longer.

After the 10:30am med alarm and delivery of the med, I figured I’d better uncover Sven. He was awake and it looked like he’d eaten one of the Three worms and some crunchy greens. Poor Sven! I get a big FAIL from him on my service. I freed the two remaining survivors, got fresh greens and berries and then dropped three new worms on top so he could see. He didn’t move, and the three new worms burrowed so fast, they were pretty much gone in the few seconds it took me to walk around the terrarium and take pictures. Sven didn’t move. I told him maybe I’d give him a shower later. He didn’t move.

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I did cover the little hole I dug for the worms. I hope they’ll be happy in their freedom.

Around 11:30 Ben said that phrase I so dislike… “You have to get dressed, you have to go to the store.” I asked what he thought he needed. He said he needed a “Ladybug” costume. He watches some animated show called Ladybug and Cat Noir. Some superhero thing. I told him they don’t have costumes at any stores, Halloween is over. I told him we could look on my tablet and see if we could find one. So we did, a spandex bodysuit, red with black dots, and a mask. It was like $30 but I spend that on Pink Cookies so, whatever… I bought it. He can sleep in it or play… it’s even coming tomorrow.

I thought that would satisfy him, but I was wrong. Not even ten minutes later he was telling me to get dressed again. A violin this time. I told him he has a red violin in his room. A few minutes after that I was told to get dressed and go to the store for a “window train”. I told him I had no idea what that even was. I told him he has trains and tracks and cars and dominoes, and forty gazillion other things to play with. He took his box of train track pieces and built an oval track. I guess the “bored kid” episode passed.

When Daughter wandered out at 2:20pm, I said “oh, good. I was going to come get you at 2:30pm. My phone is down to 25% battery and I need to charge it a little before I go to Vons.” I’d asked her this morning if she was going to sleep until 2pm like usual. She said No, that she was getting up at 1pm since she could sleep tonight. She really does take advantage with the sleeping. I guess I could press the issue, but she’d be grumpy, Ben would get grumpy cuz she’s grumpy, and who does that hurt??? Me. Yeah… sometimes it’s just better to leave things the way they are. That hour wasn’t crucial to me.

Around 3:20 I prepared for Data Gathering at the back gate. Another month and my Science project will be complete. Of course, after Winter Solstice on December 22nd, the Sun will start moving north again. I might, keep periodic check to see if it hits the same spot on Vernal Equinox (Spring) as it did on Autumnal Equinox… theoretically, it should. Anyway, I took my pictures then headed to the grocery store.

Yeah, yeah… I had to get dressed, I had to go to the store… for dog food, and greens and Pink Cookies and a few other things. Now it’s time to see if actual sunset is a show or a dud. The sky has been cloudy, but in a meh kinda way. I guess I’ll find out. Then the regular stuff… Daughter is off, so no Driving Miss Daisy tonight. The only possible stress point will be the dreaded Washing Of The Hair. I think I’ll wait til the night meds are coursing before I wrassle the octopus.

Just for fun. It’s a lyric video and contains swear words… be warned.

Thanks for hanging out and putting up with Sciencey Stuff obsession. Speaking of “Sciencey Stuff”, Rory suggested a glossary of terms and phrases… I do make up words, and use abbreviations and we have an ever-growing cast of characters. I’ll be making a new page, at some point, soon hopefully, that has all the stuff on it. All of my regulars pretty much follow along, but new people sometimes join us, and Casa Cuckoo is the kinda place where everyone should feel at ease. I don’t want anyone missing out cuz they dont understand my made up words and weird ways of expressing myself. And related to that, if you ever have questions about anything, please ask! You will NOT offend me, I promise! Daughter is off, and tomorrow is a GLYSB Day! Come join the Happy Dance! ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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