A BUSY WEEK, AND A FUN VISIT

Spring weather - you never know what's comin', do you??

Two days ago, as we walked along the levee that protects Sacramento from the waters of the American River, I got goosebumps from the perfection of the day: 70 degrees, sunshine, spring green grass and new leaves on the trees. I saw lilacs blooming and mounds of star jasmine draped on fences. Everyplace has a season that makes you believe you could settle down and live there; spring is Sacramento's "this is the place" season.

Fast forward to today, and behold the fashionable walker. Fleece earwarmers, fleece pullover zipped all the way up, sweatshirt with hood up, fleece gloves, jeans, wool socks and warm shoes. The goggle-eyed sunglasses? That's another story (to follow).

As I write, mid-afternoon, the temperature is 60 degrees (the forecast high for today) and the wind is gusting to 30 mph. And now get this: the forecast for Sunday is 92 roasting degrees! Springtime - wow.

We continue to work on upgrades to Scoopy. We've had her for six years, but she is actually seven years old - we bought her from the original owners, a young couple with 4 small children who had been fulltiming! I don't know how they managed it, but Scoopy looked showroom fresh when we bought her.

For the past year, I have felt it was time for a new mattress - I don't think RV mattresses we meant to be slept on every night for seven years. After laying (or is it lying - I NEVER have understood that rule of grammar) on over a dozen mattresses in four different stores, we finally made a decision. Just before we returned to make the purchase, I remembered that the toe of our mattress slides in three inches just underneath our bedroom vanity when we bring in the slide - and the mattress we had just agreed on was 3 inches deeper than our current mattress! Oh, man... I can picture it now... getting ready to depart in May, doing the last minute checks, latching the closet doors, pushing the button to bring in the slide and... WHOOPSIE, the bed doesn't fit! WHOOPSIE, the slide doesn't close!

A "senior moment" averted... YAY! We visited yet another mattress store, found an 8 1/2 inch deep mattress we both liked, and bought it. We're hoping for delivery today.

The other big research project and purchase came about when we revisited the analog-to-digital conversion - that government-induced irritant. We solved the problem in the bedroom by purchasing a new digital-capable TV, but felt that was too costly a solution for the larger, front room TV.

When we arrived at Cal Expo, Odel got to work hooking up the digital converter box. After the standard interval of hot, sweaty, frustration, he had it all hooked up and working perfectly (and, I admit, digital RV is far superior to analog TV). Whoopee turned to whoopsie quickly, though - we could no longer get a satellite feed on either TV! After another 30 minutes of thought, discussion and ineffective action, we had managed to mangle one of the teeny, tiny little wires in one of the cables, ending any hope that we could fix this mess ourselves.

Since we were going to be calling in the experts in audio/video, I raised with Odel another item on my private "needs upgrading" list: do something about our cobbled together sound system.

Scoopy came with an in-dash radio/cassette tape player with a 12 CD changer that rides in a cabinet over the driver's head (and no slot to play a single CD). During the seven year interval, technology has marched forward. We added a satellite radio receiver (check out this photo for insight into the level of craftsmanship that can be reached with velcro and an empty green chile can). Yes, that nest of antenna wire rides on the dashboard.

The receiver gets the satellite signal from the antenna, then sends it to an unused FM channel on the radio. This negates one of the advantages of satellite radio - that you can drive across country listening to the same station - since we have to keep looking for an unused channel as we drive from one urban area to another. I'd love to get rid of the whole mess, and have a hard-wired satellite radio receiver. AND, ever since I saw my sister Nancy plug her MP3 player into the front of her car radio so we could listen to her hand-picked selections... I wanted THAT, too!

Well, it's on the way. We paid a visit to Paradyme Sound and Vision, and have Friday scheduled as the day they will solve our TV problems and replace our old radio with a new one. We're getting all-new technology, including a built-in satellite receiver, a slot for a CD, and a USB port to plug in (and charge up) our MP3 players, and a remote. Yippee!

This last photo is of me and Gypsy (Marty). I began reading her blog, On the Road Again, a couple of months ago, when she was staying here at Cal-Expo. I liked her liberal views and adventurous spirit, and was sorry that she left Cal-Expo two days before we arrived.

Marty was back in town today and dropped by for an afternoon visit. I'm so sorry we didn't get to spend more time together... I have a feeling we could be good friends. Let's hope our paths can cross again.

Now, about those sunglasses: I am having a cataract removed tomorrow. In between mattress research and dealing with our electronics challenges, I've visited the lab (electrolyte check now required before surgery), our doctor (EKG now required before surgery), and the eye surgeon. One of the many items I received from him was an oversized pair of dark, very protective sunglasses. Since it was too windy today to wear a brimmed hat, and since my usual sunglasses are less than optimal, I wore the goggle-eyes. Jeez, those things are HUGE!

I'm not likely to post to the blog for a couple of days while I recover. Later!