Part 311 ~ 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.

There was not really anything to see at sunset last night. It started to break up a little bit so I went out, looked around, took two pictures and came back inside. It was cold and I didn’t want to be outside. Can you blame me?

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We decided to skip Ben’s bath too. It’s relaxing for him, but he was pretty chill, and we didn’t want him to get cold after, when it was Driving Miss Daisy time. I put him in clean, warm pajamas and socks with his hard shoes, since his slippers were wet. Those dang shoes heightened his Sweeney Todd fixation. UGH! We almost had an issue with him wanting to bring one of his plastic straight razors with him on the drive. The last thing we need is for him to be waving a “weapon” around at other cars. He doesn’t understand, and other drivers definitely wouldn’t understand. I cranked up the heater and his meds were kicking in, so he was very mellow by the time we dropped Daughter off.

We came home, I got him tucked in, then texted Daughter… blah blah blah… I was making good time with my evening routine when Younger called around 8pm to ask if we had roadside service with our insurance. I told her I didn’t think so. She’d left her lights on and her battery was dead. She was gonna try to find someone with cables when she got off at 9pm.

I was eating my food at 9:30pm when Older Daughter texted to see if I’d eaten and taken my pill yet. I exchanged a few texts with her, then she went back to work. Younger called around 10pm. She was able to get a jump start and was on her way home. We talked as she drove, but I couldn’t stop yawning. She was close to home when I told her I needed to sleep. I was asleep by 11pm.

I woke a couple times, because I always do, but didn’t wake for good until 4:30am… my foot was itchy. Of all the things to be woken for, or from, or because of… whatever… I woke up because the plaque psoriasis on my foot was itchy! (Can you hear the exasperation?!) At least Zeus and Ben were still in Ben’s room.

I had a quiet peaceful house until 6am. Then Zeus started whining. I ignored him until 6:15am, then opened Ben’s door, opened the side door and told him “Go potty!” He had his head down, he didn’t want to go outside, he wanted to be out with me. Dang Velcro Dog!

Ben got up about ten minutes later, running for the baño. I guess he heard me saying go potty and it crept into his sleep and woke him up with an urgent need. A Casa Cuckoo moment for sure. He came back wearing his shoes and holding his razor. UGH!

I filled his water bottle, gave him his meds and went to look at the sky. Then I came back in and got coffee and texted Daughter to let her know we were up. I went back outside around 7am and saw four gulls circling and doing aeronautical acrobatics. There were a couple of crows that tried to join or were just passing through. Guess what I did… Yep! WAY too many pictures…

Then it was time to go get Daughter. On the way home she told me her night had gone pretty well except for the alcohol detox patient. He was through the physical withdrawal, but was urinating in the bed. He had a urinal next to the bed, refused a condom catheter, and refused to get up and walk to the bathroom. He had a “brief” (adult diaper) but somehow managed to soak through it, getting the bed wet. He is COVID positive, and patients who are capable of self-care, but refuse to use the options available, choosing to lay in the bed and urinate or defecate, really irritate Daughter. Rightfully so, IMO. I mean, who does that?! I told her I would’ve left him. She said she did. She’d been in the room at 12:30am taking vitals, and had cleaned him up, reminding him that he had the urinal right there, that he was capable of self care, she’d seen him wandering all over his room less than twenty-four hours earlier, and that his COVID symptoms were mild. When he called for her at 1:15am saying he’d wet himself again, she told him she’d be back in his room at the next scheduled time, 3:30 or 4am.

Anyway, we got home and my Couch Sittin Duty started. Ben started being a little crazy when we first got home, yelling about a “Sweeney Todd Barber Chair Toy”. Daughter had gone to her room, and I wasn’t gonna deal the the B.S. I told him for the umpteenth time that no one makes a toy like that, then I went and hid in the bathroom. He calmed himself down without an audience. The morning continued without further incidents.

He asked for a big box of chalk around 9:30am and I got him the box of forty-eight I had stashed. Daughter came out to use the baño, commented about him having calmed down, then told me she’d set her alarm for 2pm, but I could wake her up earlier. I told her I wasn’t going to wake her up.

Ben pretty much did the chalk thang all morning and into the afternoon. He took snack breaks, watched his tablet, and changed locations when the chalk dust pile interfered with him (I swept it up when he moved. I wish school would reopen!), but he was mostly chill… in the chalk zone.

Sven stayed asleep in his house all day. It’s too cold for him, and since it’s supposed to stay cold all week, I’m not gonna wake him up and warm him up. I still think it’s better to let him sleep than have him yo yo back and forth between waking and sleeping.

When the 2:30pm med alarm went off I was NOT surprised that Daughter hadn’t gotten up yet. I could’ve woken her up, but like I’ve written a bazillion times, I’m so done with this constant issue of her oversleeping. So DONE! She doesn’t have work tonight, so she can sleep through til tomorrow morning. I do Ben’s bath anyway, and I can cook a pizza just as easy as she can.

Daughter got up and took over Couch Sittin Duty around 3:30pm. She was full of apologies, but I told her to stop. She’s not sorry. If she was sorry, she wouldn’t keep doing it. I told her that Ben would probably be hungry early since he didn’t eat very much today. I gathered my stuff and got Horizontal in my room. That’s gonna do it for today. I haven’t looked outside since 2:30pm when I walked around the back yard and took some pictures of the big fluffy white clouds. It was dark and gloomy in the south though, so the next storm may be rolling in. I’ll take a peek when it’s sunset time.

Catchy, fun song. I hadn’t seen the video before… pretty funny.

Another mostly relaxed day. Too dang cold for me, but I’m a huge baby about temperature extremes. Yes, I know a high temperature of 55°F (13°C) isn’t considered extreme, but to a person who has lived in SoCal since birth, it IS extreme. We’ve got nothing planned for tomorrow, although we need a few things from the store so I may go later tonight, or tomorrow, or maybe I’ll have them delivered. When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. More rain is headed our way, so the Guessers predict. I hope they’re wrong. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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