Part 263 ~ 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 heard that familiar squawking that I love so much, and was just in time to see them fly by and land in a tree behind the apartment building. UGH! I stayed put, knowing they’d leave again, and saw a flock of crows go by, following the same pathway the Parrots had taken. I was able to catch the Parrots leaving the tree and head northeast. Then they came back and circled overhead. I was very happy. I was able to take three quick pictures, and all three were blurry. Stupid phone camera! The focus has been acting up a LOT lately! I can’t wait til Christmas when I can have my actual camera!

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After the Parrots circled and left, I took some other pictures, then went inside to edit. That’s when Ben decided he was gonna get upset. It was that time of day, he was tired, he was hungry, his meds were wearing off, and he wanted a Christmas tree. He wanted me to… yep! say it with me now… “Get dressed and go to the store” and buy a Christmas tree, and he wanted to go with me. We told him it was too early for our tree, that we didn’t have anywhere to put it right now, we needed to clear out a space, that of course he would go with us, he has to help pick it out… Daughter even showed him on the calendar a date, “in six days” (which I was not consulted about, and I don’t know if Younger has work that day, she usually goes with us) which is actually seven days since she drew the tree on the thirteenth. Anyway, none of it mattered, he wanted a tree now.

He asked me to go get one again, and I told him again it was too soon, not tonight. He ran outside. Soon I heard sounds of him moving the stuff from the gate. DANG IT!! I went out after him and saw the red clouds by the three palm trees and realized I was missing the rest of sunset, arguing with Ben about the dang Christmas tree.

He was coming back around the side of the house as I walked out the door, so I stepped up onto the chair and took a picture. He was bumping me, like he wanted to knock me down, but not really trying too hard. I got the picture, then went to take others. He grabbed the chair, moved it and climbed up to do his Fantasia Conductor thing. I told him to be careful standing there, I had the chair up against the wall of the house, a sturdier, safer place.

I finished taking pictures, sunset was over, and Daughter was waiting for the baggie of steak to finish thawing in hot water (why she didn’t take it out sooner, I have no idea) so she could cook it for Ben’s dinner. He sat in my room with me, scripting and watching his tablet. Daughter finally cooked and Ben hovered over her while she cut it. He was HUNGRY. She gave him a couple bites and told him to go sit down while she cut it. She didn’t want him grabbing pieces while she was cutting, she was afraid she’d cut him.

She brought his plate into my room and gave it to him. He attacked it! He really was hungry. I got the brush and did his hair when he took a break from shoving food in his face. He finished eating, I ran his bath, he continued asking about the tree, and I continued telling him it was too soon. He didn’t even play in the bathtub. He pulled the plug almost immediately, which seemed to surprise him that I didn’t get upset about it. He got out still talking about the tree and acting like he wanted to knock stuff over, or throw a fit. I put his robe over his shoulders and held them. I tried to get him to look at me, not eye contact, but at my face, or at least in my direction. I told him in a quiet voice “That’s enough. You can’t always have everything you want, exactly when you want it. Sometimes you have to wait. Throwing a fit won’t change that. Enough!” Then I let him go, and he headed to his room. Daughter got him dressed and tucked in, called Zeus in for bedtime and closed the door. It was 6:20pm.

Daughter went to her room, I hung out in mine… recovering my Zen. She came into my room and handed me her phone, she was placing a delivery order from Applebee’s. I selected what I wanted and took the phone back to her. Then I did the usual Things and Stuff, ate my food, took my pills and went to sleep sometime after midnight.

I woke around 5am again, heard Daughter but no Zeus sniffing my ear or Ben “cuddles”. I thought about getting up and looking at the sky, but my bed was warm and comfortable. While I was debating with myself I dozed off.

A text message from Younger’s Partner woke me up just as the med alarm was going off. Partner sent me pictures of the sunrise and they were spectacular. I jumped up and went outside but I was too late. I took a couple pictures but they weren’t even close to what Partner had captured minutes earlier. I was bummed.

I went back inside and got coffee while Daughter woke Ben up and got him dressed for school, under his blankets. He stayed in bed. I did go back out looking for Georgie and Gracie. They visited and another couple was trying to worm their way in. There were gulls all over the sky.

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I was bummed that I missed the gorgeous sunrise, but the gulls were fun. The pictures with the lights were taken from my kitchen window. A gull, I’m saying it was Georgie was circling around and flying straight toward the window. I kept talking to him, every time he came by. He circled four or five times. I’ve thought about putting food out for them, but I’m afraid of making them too at ease, cuz I have cats. Diesel Cat especially thinks he’s a mighty panther. I think a gull could take him on, but why risk it?!

I got Ben out of bed at 7am and sent him to the baño. The first thing he said to me was “Christmas tree?” OY! I ignored his question and sent him on his way. I was taking the Fly-by pictures when it was time for him and Daughter to go wait for the GLYSB. Happy Dancing occurred at 7:25am PST… the bus was five minutes early. Hurray!

I got more coffee, thanking my Dragon and went to my room to edit all the pictures I’d taken. I also went through all the dang emails for sales and various newsletters.

At 10am I’d finished email, changed my shoes and put on public clothes and hoodie, put on my mask and headed out the door. I originally had three stops planned… grocery store, Rite Aid, and post office. Then I remembered there’s a UPS mini-store inside the grocery store. WOOT WOOT! Cross off the post office.

I went to Rite Aid first. I needed to get more Christmas lights, and I wanted to get a small, fake tree for Ben. I lucked out. They had tons of lights and a three foot tree with lights and decorations… and they were all on sale! I also got mailing labels and more wine for Daughter. Then onward to FINALLY send the birthday gift, and see if the store had hams, and get more Apple Jacks for HRH, and creamer for me. The store finally had “beef soup bones”, so I grabbed the last package for Dogzilla, but no hams, and they only had the small boxes of cereal…whatever, and I grabbed the last container of store brand “Italian Sweet Cream” creamer, but good enough, and the package was sent. Homeward!

I got home, carried the stuff in, gave Daughter the little tree to put up, and gave Zeus a bone. It was noon by the time I got Horizontal. I went through MORE dang email and started on my WP comments and Reader. I was very, very behind.

Ben got home at 1:44pm. He seemed tired. Daughter took him straight to his room to see his new fake tree. He liked it. Yay! Gramma done good! Daughter and Ben put the little ornaments and decorations on it and Ben said “Gramma, come look!” So I grunted and groaned my way off my bed and into his room. I made all the corrects noises and went back to being Horizontal. Ben grabbed the box of mini ‘Nilla Wafers I’d gotten for him and his tablet and got Horizontal with me.

At 2:30pm I hollered out the alarm and Daughter brought his meds in. Around 3pm I noticed he was awfully quiet and looked over at him… he was asleep. I tried to wake him up, but he was out! Daughter said to let him sleep, so I did. He woke up briefly around 3:40pm and grabbed my throw blanket, covered up, and rolled over. I told him he should wake up, he still needed ti have dinner. He said “okay” and kept snoozing. I think the Santa Ana and high pressure leaving finally let him relax.

The Sciencey pictures were taken, and now actual sunset approaches. Lots of clouds… I hope it’s pretty. I guess we’ll wake Ben up when his food is ready and when it’s time for meds. He has school tomorrow so he needs to get some sleep tonight.

To honor Metallica, Mongolian Style…

Thank you for going on my errands with me, and for sharing our Adventures every day. I appreciate all of you! You keep me sane(ish). I hope you’ll join tomorrow’s GLYSB Happy Dance, and whatever other Adventures we come up with. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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