Part 271 ~ 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.

While Daughter was cooking I was taking pictures. I’d heard the Parrots so I ran outside and saw them land in a tree that I actually had a view of. I stood there for a long time, waiting for them to leave so I could get closer pictures. They finally flew away, but they didn’t come much closer. So I walked around the house to see what the southern and eastern sky looked like…

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… WOW! The pictures don’t do justice to the huge awesomeness of that cloud and the glowing color. It was enormous, and it looked close enough to touch. I checked the west every so often, but the east was too compelling to miss. But… since this is MY life we’re talking about, and Casa Cuckoo, I started having problems with my phone camera. My phone memory was full, and now my SD card was full too. DAMN!! I deleted a bunch of pictures, praying that they were backed up like they were supposed to be (in three places) and ordered a new SD card. 16GB just isnt enough memory.

Getting Ben fed, bathed and off to bed went fairly well, then Daughter went to bed at 7:30pm and was asleep by 8pm. I did all the usual, but wound up dozing a couple times. I took my meds at midnight and konked immediately.

I got a phone call from Younger at 3:45am asking if we had a working thermometer. I had been hard asleep. I told her we have a thermometer but it keeps reading “error” when we turn it on. The batteries probably need to be replaced. Then I asked her what was up. Partner something something something… as soon as I knew it wasn’t her, I kinda faded. I was sleeping… if that makes me a bad person, then I can live with it. It must’ve been Partner was worried about the Kootie cuz I remember telling Younger that it was cold and flu season too. Which she agreed with. She apologized for waking me, we exchanged “Love you”s, and I went back to sleep. I woke for good at 6:30am when the med alarm went off. Slept in, again!!

When I told Daughter about the phone call, she told me that Younger had texted her a picture of Partner’s throat. It looked like strep. Older was sleeping when the text came in, so she texted back her diagnosis this morning. Partner has a habit of freaking out about every medical thing.

We got Ben up, dressed and ready to go after giving him his 6:30am meds. I uncovered Sven to see what he was gonna do… he cracked an eye, then shut it again. He’d moved from the back Pouty Corner to the front Pouty Corner. He’ll wake up when he’s ready (I keep telling myself), he’s perfectly fine (I remind myself), there’s nothing to worry about (right… I almost believe it). I didn’t even look at sunrise from outside. My brain memory problem had infected my phone, so there was no point. Plus, it was super clear, no clouds, and very cold.

At 7:22 we went out to wait for the GLYSB. It arrived two minutes later. We waved, blew kisses, and I Happy Danced up the driveway, and into the house. I had about forty minutes until it was time to leave for my Intrathecal Pain Pump refill appointment.

I love that there’s no traffic on the freeway! At 8:15am it is normally bumper to bumper, crawling at 20MPH, on a good day. There were plenty of cars still, but we were cruising along at seventy. The appointment went okay. I lost two pounds. Ugh! This HAS to stop. I didn’t tell Daughter, she didn’t ask. I now weigh one sixty-eight. As previously mentioned, I am 6 feet tall, and I prefer to be between one ninety and two hundred.

The pump fill went fine, but they wanted a urine sample for drug screen. Apparently I haven’t done one since February. I always use the baño before I leave the house, so I was unable to provide then enough of a sample. I was going to have to wait until I could, which made me unhappy. Then the nurse offered a blood test instead, and I was like “let’s do it!”. But… since it’s MY life, one of the little swabby things they collect the blood on, broke off, and the sample fell on the floor. She had to get another pack of swabby things. She said that has never happened before. I am very much used to malfunctions and mishaps.

After leaving the doctor’s office, I drove directly to the grocery store. I called Daughter when I got there, she’d texted me while I was driving and I hadn’t connected the Bluetooth. I got the stuff on the list, mostly snack stuff for Ben and frozen food for me. Then came home to get Horizontal for a bit before Ben got home.

The Great Tree Gettin’ Adventure was scheduled for departure at 2:30pm. I texted Younger, she said she definitely wanted to come, not sure about Partner.

She called me at 12:45pm to let me know she had been exposed to the Kootie at work. A coworker who sits in the same office with her. She was SOO upset. She had plans to see an old friend and to go with us to get the tree, now she can’t do anything until she gets her negative results. She and Partner both are going to a drive-through testing site. What a crazy day…

Ben got home around 1:55pm. He was in a good mood, but super hyper. Things almost went bad when he kicked me in the leg. He thought it was funny, so he kicked Zeus. Poor Zeus yelped and ran away. I told Ben “only kick balls”. He went and found a soccer ball and kicked it down the hall. I told him “good job”, sent Zeus after the ball, and said “All better”. We were able to transition to him watching his tablet and eating mini ‘Nilla Wafers. Daughter gave him his meds at 2pm instead of 2:30. We didn’t mention the Great Tree Adventure yet. It’s better if there is less time to wait. Ben doesn’t wait well.

Ben didn’t actually settle down until 3:30pm. He was outside stabbing boxes and just wound up. It wasn’t looking good for taking him out in public. Especially when I decided to make sure Home Depot even had trees. They did NOT. So I did a Goigle search and found trees at two different WallyWorlds. So the NEW plan is to go around 8am tomorrow morning. Ben will have had his meds, he will have time to eat, it is a mellow time for him generally. Daughter called the store to make sure they still had them, they did.

Steak for Ben’s dinner tonight. Then hopefully a peaceful, relaxed evening. He’s on Winter Break until January 4, 2021. Remember when I used to freak out about breaks?? Lockdown taught me that two weeks is NOTHING!

My new SD card was delivered so I have memory again… in my phone at least. Too bad it doesn’t work for my brain. I got a 128GB card… just to be sure. I’ll have to see what the camera comes with and stock up on memory. I do take a LOT of pictures.

I’ve heard this song on the radio a bunch of times and didn’t know the name or band. I’ve discovered that I really like this band. A lot!! They’re from Iceland.

Thanks for coming along to the doctor while I got my pump filled, then braving the grocery store. It was a pretty crazy day. Busier than usual for me, and lots of ups and downs. Daughter goes back to work tomorrow night, so there will be the stress of getting Ben ready to Drive Miss Daisy, and the really real Great Tree Adventure in the morning. Then, just chilling in between. Join us… you never know what could happen. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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