Part 335 ~ 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.

Sunset last night was another amazing show. I am really surprised at how beautiful it is nearly every night. At one point last night, the sky was actually glowing. I often wonder if the sunsets have changed, or if I’ve just noticed them more because of my Sciencey Stuff Project, which BTW, we’ll revisit next month on the Vernal or Spring Equinox.

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Getting Ben ready for bed was kinda bumpy but not horrible. I was Huffing and Puffing a bit, which upset Daughter, so she jumped into the middle of it. I told her I had it, that her approach was gonna make things harder, (I was trying to get Ben into the tub, she was going to physically pick him up and put him in the tub) which made her angry… UGH!!

I got Ben bathed and he went to his room, waiting for Daughter to help him with his PJs and tuck him in. She waited a few minutes, but got it all done. Then she started arguing with me. It went round and round for a half hour or so, then she discovered another leak behind the stove. SERIOUSLY?!

I decided to replace the tubing behind the stove. I had the tubing, and the old line was apparently gonna keep cracking or whatever. So I turned the water off, connected a new piece of tubing in along the entire length of the behind the stove area, then turned the water back on. There was a hole in the new tubing, because that’s how things go at Casa Cuckoo. Water back off, cut the tubing at the hole, new coupler to rejoin it, water back on. Success!

The leaky tubing ended the argument, so it wasn’t a completely horrible thing. Daughter went to her room, and I did my usual Stuff and Things. I went to sleep around 11:30 or midnight. I woke once around 3:30am with shooting, stabbing pain in the tips of my left middle toes. I tried rubbing them, then flexing and wiggling them… it didn’t help. The pain seemed to go on forever, but it eventually lessened enough for me to sleep again.

The wakeup today was Ear Sniffing, then the Bounce and blanket-stealing “cuddle”. That lasted a minute, maybe two, then he was off to the baño… Zeus stayed. I guess Ben just expected me to follow and was unhappy that I didn’t, cuz the door kicking soon followed. I am NOT diggin this new wakeup routine. I yelled for him to knock it off, and got up. It was 6am.

Daughter got up around 6:45am cuz she heard my raised voice. I was in the baño and Ben kept beating on the door. When I asked him what he wanted, he didn’t say anything, just beat on the door again. I’d finally opened the door and asked him what he wanted. He started scripting Willy Wonka. I told him to leave me alone, and let me use the bathroom in peace. Sheesh!! No wonder I have IBS. I explained it to Daughter. She rolled her eyes and kinda shrugged. Yep! Pretty much. That’s life with Ben.

I went outside to look at the sky. It was pretty, but not dramatically so. I took a few pictures, but was limited by a delivery truck that was parked in the middle of my view. Mister Crow, Georgie and Gracie flew around, posing for me I swear, then flew off. I took pictures and went back inside.

I went through my email, then got ready for my doctor’s appointment. One thing about the pandemic I like is the absence of bumper to bumper, rush hour traffic. There are still plenty of cars on the freeway, but the fifteen minute drive has taken over forty-five minutes in the past. I arrived at 8:58 for my 9am appointment and they called me back at 9:15.

I’m gonna use my pain pump as the thing I love for today’s Lurve offering for Paula. The first pump was implanted seven or eight years ago, (it had to be replaced two years ago… the battery is only good for five or six years) and it changed my life! My pain was finally managed. I didn’t spend half my time worrying about my pills and the rest of my time on a rollercoaster of pain. It improved my physical and mental health. I go in once a month, and they use a needle to draw out any meds in the reservoir, then use the same needle to fill the reservoir with new medications, then I’m good for another month.

After the pump fill, I was moved to a different room to wait for my prescriptions to be signed. I need new prescriptions every month for the morphine and Restoril, since they’re both controlled substances. I was getting irritated cuz I had to wait over thirty minutes for the dang doctor’s signature.

There was good news though… I gained two pounds since last month. One sixty seven is still way too low, but it’s headed in the right direction. I got home around 10:45am and was greeted by Zeus. Daughter said he laid in front of the door and whined while I was gone. My Velcro Dog. Daughter also told me she decided to skip Zoom today. No surprise there.

I changed into my slobbies, got coffee, then got Horizontal and finished email and started WP… in between my Peasant Duties to HRH. Ben came into my room a few times to hang out and watch his tablet, eat a snack, just chill. Around 2pm he asked for more chalk. I told him I’d get him more, but he had to help me clean up the two buckets worth of old chalk he’d dumped everywhere. He agreed.

We went to the front room, I started dumping dustpans full into a box to take outside. I told him to help pick the chalk up. He picked up a few hands full but got distracted and started arranging. I knew it was going to happen. I finished cleaning up, took the box outside, then got him the new, twenty-four piece box. He dumped it and happily continued doing his thang.

It’s getting close to sunset and the evening routine. Hopefully things will stay chill… no arguments, no more leaks. There’s no Driving Miss Daisy, so there shouldn’t be any stress. Shouldn’t be.

I heard this on the way home from the doctor. It’s getting a lot of play recently. Interesting fact: Wolfgang played every instrument and did all the vocals for this song. It is one hundred percent him. That’s talent!

Bizarre how later evening and early morning seem to be the most Cuckoo times. The middle part of today was totally mellow. I hope the mellow continues through the evening AND the morning tomorrow, then right through the day. I need to drop prescriptions off at the pharmacy either tonight or tomorrow. I’ll decide when I decide. There’s nothing else planned except Ben’s Zoom, and that may be cancelled again. I guess we’ll find out when Daughter decides. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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