Baxter's New Sleep Number

Today was the day!  Kathy has waited a long time for this day.  Today's the day that Baxter and Kathy get their new Sleep Number bed!

Kathy called the Sleep Number outlet before we left Apache Junction for Quartzsite, and ordered the bed for delivery today.  We arrived here in Tucson from Quartzsite yesterday, so when we got up this morning, the new bed was Job One.

Kathy stripped the old mattress with gusto and abandon, and then we wrestled the king-sized monster down, out of the bedroom and into the living room, so that the bed platform was ready for the new mattress.  Here's a photo of the bed platform - naked and without its mattress:

The old mattress had to go somewhere, and we didn't want to put it outside until we were absolutely sure we had a new, working mattress.  So, for the morning, the old mattress inhabited the kitchen and living room:

Here we are, waiting for the Sleep Number delivery and watching TV with our mattress:

Finally the new bed arrives!  It's very light and compact, since the bulk of the mattress is air.  The new controller is maybe 15"x7"x3" and fits snugly up under the bed platform, without even using any under-bed storage!

Now that the controller was installed and plugged in, we could start filling the mattress.  It has two separate air bags, or chambers, which fit, with heavy foam dividers and supports and a memory foam mattress topper, inside a cloth bag that itself has a mattress top.  Here's the whole thing ready for final assembly, air bags filled:

Once the chambers were filled and we zipped up the cloth mattress bag, Kathy made the bed.  Baxter helped.  Here he is, showing his approval of the new bed:

And, as for the old mattress?  Well, it got strapped to the back of the truck and we'll drive it 4 miles over to the local dump.  We'd like to say we'll miss the old mattress, but that wouldn't be true.  It was a pretty flimsy thing, made for selling the RV, not for long-term sleeping.  But we will give it a dignified burial nevertheless.

Kathy and Baxter can't wait for their first night's sleep on the new mattress.  Kathy says her favorite sleep number "60."  David's is "100."  Baxter isn't revealing his yet - he'll give us his opinion once he's tried it.