Strange days indeed - a 24 x 7 experiment

[oznl]

This week I’ve spent a lot of time at my desk in the office sequentially drowning ABU Simples (XL) for science and the pursuit of a less ludicrously priced long-haul workday nappy. 

Like the BetterDry, the ABU simple is almost decadently comfortable to wear, dry and wet.  Full marks for that.  It’s like wearing your own private mattress albeit less visually indiscreet.  It may be my imagination but it did seem than when an ABU Simple is wet, it feels, well, wetter than a BetterDry.  I’m not uncomfortable in it but towards the end of the working day, it definitely does feel a little squishier down there.  A re-wetting is almost cloth-like in that it can feel a little bit like a warm, private bath going on. 

On a possibly related note, a BetterDry retains a certain Teutonic resolve with respect to structural integrity, even when drenched in its wearer’s pee.  They remain pliable but firm, a little bit like BMW suspension, or, having a warm play dough chicken hugging your crotch.  I’ve never tried putting a chicken-sized-lump-of-play-dough in my underwear by the way but I do have a vivid imagination.

In contrast, the ABU Simple dissolves into warm blubber like the embarrassing aunt at your wedding, a bit like wearing a bag of briefly-microwaved jelly (I haven’t tried this either by the way).  Strangely, it’s not uncomfortable, just different.

I’m not convinced that the ABU Simple deodorising is quite as good as the BetterDry.  Once or twice when changing, I’ve caught a pee-whiff from them that I don’t remember encountering with the BetterDry but it’s subtle and only evident on changing.  I guess I could have paid extra to have the ABU “scented” but I’m looking for olfactory camouflage, not fancy dress.

I would have said that the “landing zone” system for the four tapes was forcing me to affix the lower tapes in a higher position than I would prefer in the interests of leak avoidance but leaks have not been such a thing.

Yes, I would have said that.  Until today.  My work dress pants are in the wash and I very nearly pulled the “crash kit” pin.

I think I was a little fooled by the whole wetness experience.  It was late in the working day and I knew I was very, very wet but ABU Simple feel wet anyway.  I’d been hydrating more or less continuously, possibly out of boredom and I’d spent a very large part of the day in my “drip and dribble” zone where pee happens almost constantly, largely unmanaged by my conscious mind but in very small quantities.  It felt like I was sitting in a bag of warm jelly down there.  It wasn’t unpleasant, just noticeably wet.  At around 4pm I got up to get my gym bag.  As I walked across the room (nobody was in it anyway), I realised that the back of my left leg felt disturbingly cool.  A cautious dab found a wet patch.  A sizeable one.  In fact, there was a lot of wet pant action happening back there and I probably needed to wipe down my leather chair.

A quick check in an office mirror reassured me that black pants and conferred their usual mercy and there was very little visual evidence to my misdemeanour.  It was gym time anyway so grabbing my gym bag, I headed for the change rooms in the adjacent corporate park gym.

Inspecting my removed black pants, I decided that a quick blast under the hand dryer would recover them enough for the commute home over a drier nappy.

Pulling down my plastic pants however, I found a substantial puddle in the crotch and I had to carefully empty them out and give their insides a quick rinse.  I went home plastic-pant free that night.

The ABU simple fell off me like a dead koala falling out of a tree but squishier.  Forensic examination revealed that the padding was only about 80% saturated but a leak had nevertheless occurred around the legging on one side where I sat (the classic “press out” leak).  As it was nearly as wet outside as it was within, the tapes wouldn’t stick to put it back together so it had to make the commute home in my laundry bag in flopped-frog style.  Reassembling an expired ABU Simple for disposal isn’t as simple as a BetterDry.

I’m far from dismissing the ABU Simple however.   They are pretty comfortable, pretty absorbent and just a bit different.  I wonder my leak problem is in fact a size problem.

I’ve held off ordering a case and instead I’ve ordered another pack but this time the “L” size rather than the “XL”.  I’m proud to advise that I fell into the top of ABU’s “L” size rather than the bottom of the “XL” but I thought I’d try the XL in an abundance of caution.   More is better right? I had noticed that there seemed to be an awfully generous amount of leftover wrapping when I put them on and I wonder if this may have led to questionable seal quality down at the leggings although it was interesting that no such problem revealed itself for the first few days.

If the courier runs to form, this packet will be installed as an art installation on a stick in my front yard illuminated by a neon sign that flashes “Adult Nappies!”.

[Little Sherri]

12 minutes ago, oznl said:

More is better right? I had noticed that there seemed to be an awfully generous amount of leftover wrapping when I put them on and I wonder if this may have led to questionable seal quality down at the leggings although it was interesting that no such problem revealed itself for the first few days.

I found this to be the case with the Prevail 360 Breezers that I wear during the day when I'm out of the house. Although, thanks to the impending apocalypse, business travel has been curtailed, so I am able to spend more days in the bigger diapers I prefer. However, next week is the Spring break for schools, so the kids will be around at least some of the time, and I'm probably back to tossing half-used overnight nappies in the morning, to don a fresh, discrete daytime nappy that I'll have to change every few hours. I may put Pampers in them - it seems to buy me about 30% more capacity, with minimal visual effect. But I digress. Back to the Prevails - I discovered that I fell into the top of their sizing guidelines for the Medium size, as well the lower end of the Large size. The sample package they sent me only contained a Medium, so I I tried it out, generally liked the fit, and was fresh out of slim diaper options, so I ordered a case and picked it up the next day. 

Sometime later, I was notified that the supply company was having a sale, and I thought, why not order a bag, rather than a case, of the Large size, and see how they fit? In most other diapers, I fit better in a Large, despite landing in the Medium range on their sizing guidelines. However, I found that the larger size was too large, and the legs were never snug, even if I almost joined the tabs together in the middle of my navel. The large ones only work as a pseudo-cloth diaper under plastic pants. Also, they are a very medical blue in colour, whereas the Mediums are a simple white.  

Thanks for the review of the ABU's - I have not tried those yet, but they are on my list. The next "novel" nappy purchase I make will likely be the Rearz InControl Elite in a Medium size; I have found the Large to be fantastic, and the sizing graduations on the landing zone suggest that I would handily fit into a Medium. My hope is that these in Medium might provide the combination of capacity, plasticity, and stealth I've been seeking, for wearing under street clothes. I may look into your compression garment innovations, as well. I just need to figure out where to buy them; I don't relish the idea of skulking about the lingerie department at one of the local stores. "Can I help you with something?" "Uh, I'm looking for, I think they're called Spanx, for my, uh, wife... oh yes, you know her, do you? Fantastic. Listen,  this is meant to be a bit of a surprise for her. Also, contrary to your observations, she is actually a lot closer to my size than most people think. So do you think that these would suit... her?"

[Stroller]

4 hours ago, oznl said:

I’ve never tried putting a chicken-sized-lump-of-play-dough in my underwear by the way but I do have a vivid imagination.

 

In contrast, the ABU Simple dissolves into warm blubber like the embarrassing aunt at your wedding, a bit like wearing a bag of briefly-microwaved jelly (I haven’t tried this either by the way)

No sense of adventure, some people...

?

[oznl]

On 3/13/2020 at 2:14 AM, Little Sherri said:

I may look into your compression garment innovations, as well. I just need to figure out where to buy them; I don't relish the idea of skulking about the lingerie department at one of the local stores. "Can I help you with something?" "Uh, I'm looking for, I think they're called Spanx, for my, uh, wife... oh yes, you know her, do you? Fantastic. Listen,  this is meant to be a bit of a surprise for her. Also, contrary to your observations, she is actually a lot closer to my size than most people think. So do you think that these would suit... her?"

Down here, I can just buy them at a K-Mart or a Target.  They are totally cheap (2 for A$12) and actually fairly gender neutral, especially if you buy black ones.  They're the kind of garment that, if for some inexplicable reason were to be come exposed to the general public, would probably not be noticed as unusual.  They'd look a bit like black lycra shorts.  Here they are described demurely as "Shapewear".  If men wore them, they'd be called "fat compressors" because that's what they are.

They are shaped for the female form which means that there is some extra room-space down there: ideal for a nappied bum.

In Australia, size 18 is fine for me AND my nappies and that's readily available off the rack.  Despite > 30 years of marriage, I've NO idea what size my wife's knickers are!!  I've no compunction about buying them anyway.  They're not frilly or even obviously feminine (at least the ones I choose) and half the time I end up in the self-checkout aisle for the shorter line.

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/2-pack-seamfree-shaping-short/1370954

[oznl]

So it looks like thanks to COVID-19 I'm going to be working from home this week where there is less air conditioning and less hand sanitiser.  Right now, work-from-home has been flagged as "highly desirable" but I've just been given a heads-up by senior leadership that it's likely to go to "mandatory" in the next day or so.

No real biggie, I have a study and solid IT infrastructure at home, probably a better network connection than at work.  I'll be on DD a bit as there is going to be down-time.

I'm still seriously struggling with my ABU Simples.  I'm experiencing leaking with both the "L" and the "XL".  As today I can have the luxury of wearing an ABU Simple (XL today), a T-shirt and nothing else, it's a little bit clearer where the leaks are coming from.  It's at the inner-thigh leggings behind my scrotum.  As much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, I'm wet there on the OUTSIDE of my nappy.   As a kind of bonus prize, I'm leaking a little over the top at the front as well: for some reason that only seems to happen on the XL.  There is about 50% of the padding at my bum that remains dry.  As I've been working since I put this on this morning, all of my wetting has been sitting or standing.  Maybe it would do a little better if I was laying down but that's a bit beside the point here.

They are really comfortable, but stuff gets wet that shouldn't.   By 3pm, parts of my pants are often pee-wet and this is not good.  I've still held off ordering that case load.

@rosalie.bent you're pretty familiar with these.  How many per day do you go through (I'm usually just on 3 nappies a day) and do you see leaks down there like I am seeing?  Maybe this is just installation error by operator.

 

[oznl]

Update, looks like I'm working from home this week AND next week and THEN, my company will make a decision about the week after.  I'm bored already.  I'm likely to be on DD a LOT...

[Newbee]

There is talk that my hubby’s work could close for a couple of weeks he is a bartender. As for me I work in a kitchen in a nursing home so we won’t be closing anytime soon.

[oznl]

10 hours ago, Newbee said:

There is talk that my hubby’s work could close for a couple of weeks he is a bartender. As for me I work in a kitchen in a nursing home so we won’t be closing anytime soon.

Yes.  I've never seen anything like this in my life and it's all uncharted territory.   I've to order some more nappies this week (I need to make a final decision between the cheap, comfortable but frequently soggy ABU and the now insanely-expensive BetterDry) and I think I need to get that done before freight logistics get caught up in this general panic.  After this long, I dare not run out.

I'm still employed though and still paid although a bit bored and a bit under-utilised (for now at least, I suspect lay offs will be coming).  I'm not sure how a lot of casual workers are supposed to cope.

I think your employer is going to be practically begging you to come to work though.

[Newbee]

I agree with you I can’t believe how expensive the betterdry/crinklz nappies have got. Like you I really need to look at placing an order.

Try to stay sane while your off work, I honestly feel for all the casual workers.

[Little Sherri]

On 3/17/2020 at 3:21 AM, oznl said:

I'm still employed though and still paid although a bit bored and a bit under-utilised (for now at least, I suspect lay offs will be coming).  I'm not sure how a lot of casual workers are supposed to cope.

This situation is going to be brutal for hourly and casual workers; they are talking about beefing up our employment insurance benefits to top-up wages for people who may have to take weeks or months off, and there have also been announcements by the banks that they plan on forgiving or deferring debt and mortgage payments "on a case by case basis", so it does seem like even the most heartless among us have been moved to try to at least appear like they have some concern for the plight of the unwashed. 

For myself, I am working from home, which I do anyway, but now I can't go visit customer's sites until at least the end of March. I'm used to my view either being my desk and my laptop, or, the view out the windscreen of my car, at about a 50/50 ratio, so sitting at my desk all day is driving me nuts. I expect that I'll be on here a lot as well. 

As to my diaper supplies, I've done an inventory, and I think I'm good for about six weeks, if I can keep it to three a day. I have to change up the nature of what I wear, and when, a bit, in response to my kids now possibly being home all day, every day, until the summer, but I expect that at some point, they will kill each other, and we'll be back to having the house to ourselves... No lounging about in just a diaper for me right now, though. I envy you. 

My nappy suppliers have gone over to shipped orders only, no pick-ups, so I will have to bite the bullet on that at some point, I guess, but with my spouse in-the-know, at least I won't have to then set up my office on my front porch, in an effort to head off the delivery of a discrete case labelled "GIGANTIC DIAPERS", or whatever might be on there. 

[oznl]

Well, never have days been stranger.  For the first time in nearly 15 months, my habit of being diapered is only the second (and possibly even the third) weirdest thing going on in our household.

Firstly, COVID-19 has closed my employer’s office and like so many other knowledge workers, working out of my study has gone from being an occasional Friday convenience to an obligatory daily grind.  Yes, telecommuting isn’t all upside.  My local colleagues are re-framed as disembodied voices and emails in a work world defaulted to “mute” and virtual loneliness.

Secondly, after cancelling my US travel, my employer decided to virtualise the work team conference that was to form the second week of my US stay and have me attend regardless.  Naturally, the time zone most friendly to the majority of participants who are from North America and Europe means that in addition to my own working day, I remain working between 11pm and 8am my time, every night before my next local day’s meetings start around 8am again.  Sleep (such as it is) I have been grabbing as and when I can, usually in the form of one or two 90-minute (or if luxury permits, 2 hour) cat naps during the day.

Entering day #5 of this life, I seem to have pushed through an earlier pain barrier of tiredness into a strange, grey world of perpetual, sub-acute fatigue.  I have decided not to drive a car whilst working in this mode.

There are some upsides though.

My non-work computer idles on the other side of my desk all day and amongst other things, I’ve been able to monitor DD in the background more or less continuously.  It’s been interesting, seeing some of the people I converse with all the time on DD ( @Stroller and @Little Sherri amongst others) post their comments in real time, during the middle of my night, like plane-spotting at an exotic airport instead of discovering them cold the next morning.  It’s been amusing to think of them sitting at a keyboard on the other side of the planet at precisely the same time that I am sitting at mine.

On night shift at least, I’ve been able to redefine business casual: from the waist up and in the web-cam zone, a comfortable corporate t-shirt.  From the waist down?  A comfortable nappy and plastic pants.  That is all.  Every conference call is my private joke (yes, I have considered reflections in window etc, my study is near dark and the web-cam is fixed position: all is managed).  Outside my study, the house is deserted by all except the cat and the cat doesn’t care what I wear as long as I can still open the refrigerator.   In the highly unlikely event of my partner emerging from our bedroom, well, that would just be another excuse for an Olympic-effort eye roll so I’m happy to provide.  The chances of my teenager emerging from her bedroom between 11pm and 10am are nil.

I have time to write people.  If you have questions, now’s your opportunity.  It beats dozing in a Costco chair.

The third weirdest thing in my world is, well, the world.

I won’t bore you with the minutiae as you’re probably seeing the same.  Spending a week video conferencing through the darkness with my colleagues in Europe and America, I’ve become acutely aware of the culture-crossing shared lunacies that bind us as a species.

Like many 24/7 diaper users, I regard the toilet paper crisis in a rather similar fashion I imagine to that in which Irina Dunn’s metaphorical fish would consider a bicycle shortage.  Although I don’t habitually load my nappies in that way, a bit of minor contamination here and there in the moments of a crisis would be of exactly zero consequence or discomfort.  The nappy supply chain is operating normally and as usual, I have a float of about 1 months requirement in my cupboard.   I regard myself as part of the toilet paper shortage solution, not the problem. 

Note to every company that I’ve ever purchased anything off in my entire life:  I’m delighted you have a COVID-19 mitigation strategy.  No need to email me the details.  If I need a new car, I’ll bear it in mind.  If I buy more software, I’ll make sure I virus scan it for COVID-19 before launching setup.exe

The hyper-intensity of the electronic media news cycle and click-bait-driven negative journalism isn’t helping the world much here either.  This, and the strange mental lens that chronic sleep deprivation buts between me and objective reality is something that I’m aware of.  A part of me knows that the dark and ominous world sealed outside my permanently-closed front door isn’t as dark and ominous as I might currently think it is and that this time next year (or possibly even 10 hours sleep), it’s highly likely that this will all be a bizarre memory and whilst it is possible that COVID-19 may kill my career, it is extremely unlikely it will kill me.  I have become much more selective about watching news.

Stay (a bit) cheerful folks.

[TGalactic2012]

Last Saturday after a multi-year descent into desperation, I rolled the dice on my 30-year marriage.  I told her that with my headspace today, I can no longer keep my nappy thing inside the ever-narrowing swim lanes she is painting for them and that henceforth, I will be wearing a lot more and at my discretion.  Furthermore, I have told her that this wearing will include at least some period of experimental 24x7 usage.   She has opted to continue our partnership.  I feel bad and good all at the same time in a kind of cold, clear air of shared truth.

I just pooped my diaper


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ozziebee]

I too am stuck at home.  The commute is crazy, and I miss my 2 hours of train sleep.

The client I'm at has been amazing prepared for this.  As soon as they completed BCP testing, they ordered everyone home - thats well north of 10k people all working from home.  Their remote access capabilities are amazing.  Some of the team I work with have been explaining over online video standups that their partners are sometimes having far more difficulty in WFHing tech-wise.  

My biggest pain is the loss of recreational activities.  I joined up with a volunteer org recently, and was so excited to start, but now all of that's on hold.  But, we may be able to do training online sooner as a result of the stand-down.  

As for my IC situation, I see these next few weeks home could be interesting.  I decided to suck up the $$ pain and buy some boxes of the BetterDry XL.  Amazing, is all I can say.  They fit better on me than the L's do.  So go for it.  Am still waiting on word re the CRinklz XL from you @oznl.

[DL-Boy]

25 minutes ago, ozziebee said:

I too am stuck at home.  The commute is crazy, and I miss my 2 hours of train sleep.

Well unless your boss requires that you work earlier at home than you normally would from the office, you could still catch that 2 hours of sleep, but more soundly than on a train, unless the motion of the train helps you sleep.  I usually wake up between 7:30-8:00 to get a shower, then leave the house for my commute at about 9 am.  I usually arrive at work around 9:30ish and start working as soon as I hit my seat (schedule is 10 am).  Now I can sleep until about 9 am and then log in from my computer desk at my home at 9:30ish.  I take a shower whenever I'm not working, but not before work now since I don't have to be fresh to work from home.

[oznl]

3 hours ago, ozziebee said:

As for my IC situation, I see these next few weeks home could be interesting.  I decided to suck up the $$ pain and buy some boxes of the BetterDry XL.  Amazing, is all I can say.  They fit better on me than the L's do.  So go for it.  Am still waiting on word re the CRinklz XL from you @oznl.

Ah, you're out of luck there for now Ozziebee sorry.  Due to the night shift work as well as day shift, I ordered a case of BetterDry L  online.  I like to go up there and see what else he has for sale and have a quick chat but I was too tired and too time poor.  I'll probably be up there Friday week (if he hasn't been closed by Government decree or something) but for sooner intel, you might  want to give him a call or email.

3 hours ago, ozziebee said:

The client I'm at has been amazing prepared for this.  As soon as they completed BCP testing, they ordered everyone home - thats well north of 10k people all working from home.  Their remote access capabilities are amazing.  Some of the team I work with have been explaining over online video standups that their partners are sometimes having far more difficulty in WFHing tech-wise. 

We were getting emailed bleat-o-grams from IT within a day after being sent home telling us to take it easy on the VPN concentrators!   I guess it's possible that staff were unnecessarily using VPN (many corporate applications are cloud hosted, only a small number truly need intranet access and cyber security have killed dual-homing).  It's been ok anyway.  I have noticed that the usually-rock-solid Zoom has been a bit wobbly though.  Never down but long zen-like pauses for reflection from time to time and Zoom chat has had shocking latency.  That's not like Zoom.

On the upside, it does show that staff are actually working from home at least somewhat.

Congestion is not just here though, I was on a call with a colleague out of Palo Alto yesterday and he told me that a lot of ISPs there were creaking and groaning and his own VoIP audio was pretty choppy.

[ozziebee]

I don't have his contact details.  Can you send em to me please?  I'd also like to have a chat about the supply lines too at the moment, as I'm wondering whether I should buy some more cases and store them.

[oznl]

1 hour ago, ozziebee said:

I don't have his contact details.  Can you send em to me please?  I'd also like to have a chat about the supply lines too at the moment, as I'm wondering whether I should buy some more cases and store them.

PM sent

[oznl]

Despite the COVID-19 crisis dominating the world, last night I hosted a (very small) dinner party.  Responsibly, we sat outside under ceiling fans at a correct social distance.  Irresponsibly, the usual quantity of red wine and cheese was consumed.

At around 11pm, I changed into my night nappy to retire for the day.  As is often the case after a night on the turps, I remained dry even after getting into bed.  Still partially exhausted from the previous week’s 24-hour work cycle, I swiftly (and unusually) fell into what I presume was a deep sleep.

At precisely 2:47am, I awoke.  This was nothing to do with my bladder but rather to do with the fact that it was at this precise time (according to the clock radio) that a pair of possums decided to have sex on the roof above our bedroom.  This romance was conducted in typical possum style, with large amounts of screaming and fighting.  In contrast to human babies, so frequently spawned in drunken fumbling or in the back of cars, it seems that baby possums are forged in a crucible of battle.  Made of tougher stuff are possums…

Anyway, after realising that the world wasn’t ending and that possum romances are brief, I also realised I had wet myself.  As is typical for high quality disposables, I didn’t really feel wet, my nappy just felt warm-ish and heavy against my crotch and my bladder had nothing to give. A quick exploratory poke with a finger under my waterproofs confirmed the diagnosis, my bladder was empty because that the matter had already been taken care of.

So, sometime between 11pm and 2:47am I wet my nappies in bed without the slightest clue about it, a little earlier in the night than I had imagined that sort of thing would occur.

[Little Sherri]

On 3/21/2020 at 8:29 PM, oznl said:

Made of tougher stuff are possums…

We have possums here as well; their only natural predator seems to be the automobile. You rarely if ever see them, other that when they've badly timed crossing the road. They are fairly ghastly to behold, looking a bit like a raccoon that has recently undergone chemotherapy, with the associated alopecia and anorexia. Maybe it's just that the hideous ones are prone to throwing themselves into traffic, and the accomplished, successful possums are breathtaking to behold, but never show themselves. 

As we've touched on previously, I guess a strange sort of like-minded congratulations is in order on the bed-wetting. Despite my childhood history of having been an accomplished and incorrigible bed-wetter, I still feel vaguely disturbed when I awake to find my nappy soaked, with no memory of having at least faintly been aware of the initiation of the transfer process. Drinking definitely precedes most of these instances. 

[oznl]

4 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

As we've touched on previously, I guess a strange sort of like-minded congratulations is in order on the bed-wetting. Despite my childhood history of having been an accomplished and incorrigible bed-wetter, I still feel vaguely disturbed when I awake to find my nappy soaked, with no memory of having at least faintly been aware of the initiation of the transfer process. Drinking definitely precedes most of these instances. 

It's definitely not a new behaviour, first having been observed back in August 2019 according to my notes, after about 6 months.  It is however becoming more common.  After waking up wet-but-clueless-about-it on Sunday morning, it happened again on Monday morning.  I can't recall this having happened on two consecutive nights before.  I suspect this pattern is starting to accelerate in frequency now and may actually be happening more often than it is catching my attention.

As an experiment, I'd gone to bed in an ABU Simple that I'd been wearing since dinner time.  I have a theory that working from home, I can get through a day with only using two "super-nappies" such as a BetterDry and an ABU Simple.

I woke up a bit wetter than usual.

It seemed that although the ABU Simple was not super-saturated (wet enough, by the time I changed I'd been wearing it for 12 hours) it had still performed one of its party tricks and leaked out the top at my belly into my waterproof trainers.  The towelling lineer in my trainers had gotten sufficiently wet to wick up to the lycra banding (great engineering there Babykins...) andm ipso facto, wet my pyjama pants at the waist elastic.

Thusly I awoke to a wet nappy I couldn't remember creating and slightly pee-wet pajama pants.

Upon examination, it seems that the ABU Simple have padding practically all the way to the top of the plastic at the front.  This sometimes folds down a little during the night, exposing the wet padding directly to the terry towel lining on my trainer/waterproofs at which point wetness ensues.  I think this is a bit of a design flaw but they are stunningly comfortable to wear and nearly 20% cheaper than the BetterDry at case rates.  I've ordered a case anyway and I'll just find some way of working around their limitations.  Today I'm trying the ABU Simple during the day and a BetterDry at night.

The Australian possum family is quite a bit different from the North American Opossum.  The opossum really does look a bit weird (I've seen them over there).  The Australian ones look very cute but trust me, they are completely objectionable neighbors and even worse house guests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_brushtail_possum

 

[oznl]

Another week confined-to-barracks courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic sees cabin-fever creeping up on me like morbid obesity on a Krispy Kreme diet: painless enough until you realise it’s getting harder and harder to motivate yourself to get out of your chair.  At least this week’s work was conducted in my own time zone.  It’s nice to be able to go to bed at night.  One of life’s simple pleasures.

The toilet in our ensuite broke on the weekend.  I guess mechanical atrophy pauses for neither plague nor pestilence.  It wasn’t a huge deal, just a seal let go, the same seal that has already failed in the two other toilets in the house.  Fortunately our plumber has decided that life goes on also and so duly turned up on Monday morning, flying in the face of social distancing by vigorously grabbing my hand to shake (god only knows the microbiological horrors his hands have seen) and generally remaining in my personal space as we surveyed the magnitude of our tragedy.

The fix was straight-forward (apart from me having to loan him some tools due to a mix up about which truck had what loaded on it) but as the job involved removing and re-gluing the toilet pan to the floor, our walk-in-robe toilet would be out of action for 48 hours.

We would have to use the kid’s toilet.

Or, as my wife said to me: “I guess I’M going to have to use the kid’s toilet” whilst glaring briefly at my padded crotch.

The kid’s toilet isn’t good.  Bad things have happened in that place.  I've heard about some of them.  I've never been there myself.

I thought about offering her some of my nappies but then I thought about how much nicer it would be to eat my dinner rather than wear it.

Of course, the 48 hours for me were indeed quite painless.  I just used my nappies.  For everything.  This was more practical than recreational and went along the lines of “I’m in a wet night nappy due for a change soon, then I have a shower anyway and I don’t have a toilet this side of two flights of stairs, this is a zero-sum game”.  I can do that, I just usually don’t out of respect for others and because the clean-up sucks (not so bad in disposables and going straight to a shower though).  There weren’t any others to be offended as my wife is not working from home and remaining daughter never emerges from her room.  It was just a couple of mornings and wasn’t a big problem.  Now that the toilet is back in action, I’m back to “wet only”.

I suppose for people who DID want to go through daily living in that mode, social distancing would be something of a blessing.  If you have a full nappy, there could well be advantages in remaining 2 meters apart from the rest of humanity.  In this genre today (although my nappy was at best slightly wet only I assure you), I had the slightly surreal experience of voting in a socially-distanced local election (moving stage by stage through the process across a series of 2 meter apart taped lines on the election hall floor whilst electoral staff shouted instructions and threw documents at me from across the room – BYO pen).  Then I went and had another slightly surreal experience buying alcohol at a socially-distanced liquor store (security guard outside making sure occupancy load did not exceed a threshold number of would-be alcoholics, more taped lines separating shoppers 2 meters apart at the checkout and perversely, having my teenage daughter (who was NOT buying but was with me) get ID carded twice in the same store – entering and leaving.

I’ve gone back to cloth nappies during the day: because I can.  I’m home and I can deal with the laundry.  It’s also possible thanks to less air conditioning (dehydration) and an even more sedentary lifestyle, for me to get by on only two nappies per day.  A cloth folded terry 60” x 60” will go all day and a BetterDry will go all night however a change in the weather due tomorrow may move me back to disposables in the interests of avoiding wet and incriminating washing piling up in the laundry.

My case of BetterDry arrived yesterday, delivered by a postman now practicing social distancing.  More surrealism in case you haven’t had enough by now.

Firstly, abandoning the carton by the front door, he then rang the bell and retreated halfway down the driveway in case somebody answered it.  Daughter did before I could.  I can only conclude that she was expecting something from Amazon because if she isn’t expecting post, she doesn’t “do” doorbells.  At least the BetterDry case is at best ambiguously marked.  It doesn’t actually say “Adult Nappies” anywhere although the details are apparent on the fine print if you want to look closely enough.

Having ascertained that there were people at home to receive my nappies, the postman decided that they should be signed for except new social distancing protocols make that verboten.  By this time I had arrived to join the nappy-receiving party.  The solution?  As I picked up the carton, he flipped his digital device over to reveal a camera and insisting on take a photo of me holding my package as an alternate to having me sign on his device’s screen.  Thusly I was photographed by my postman proudly clutching my carton of nappies.  I remembered to smile…

Strange days indeed.

[Newbee]

I’m glad I’m not the only one that has a teenage daughter that rarely comes out of her room.  Yep she has the social distancing down to a fine art. lol

[Little Sherri]

Taking a photo with the package - that's new. I guess they wanted to make sure that you couldn't later claim that porch pirates had absconded with it, and thus, perhaps after several lengthy conversations with people about a thing you have no desire to talk to anyone about, you might score yourself another carton. 

Oh the irony that the toilet let go. Have you ever tried changing one out yourself? I've done a few, and it's not that bad, at least the way they are installed here. Basically it's a couple of bolts that need loosening, the removal of the toilet, replacement of the wax or foam gasket (always go with wax for the replacement), and you drop the toilet back on and tighten the bolts. The parts I have left out are suctioning the vile water out of the bottom of the bowl, and, of course, trying to find a place to grab a toilet that doesn't make you want to then boil your hands. Disposable gloves help, but you have to behave like a surgeon and discard them as soon as the transfer operation is complete, or else you'll have an epiphany later that you now need to go sanitize your tools. Having a second set of hands is very helpful; I've done it myself but it's awkward, and toilets are ceramic, and wax gaskets are cheap but also easy to unevenly deform when lowering an oddly-shaped 30 Kg object that must remain more or less level. 

I've also tried the "I pledge to use my diapers for everything route", envisioning that when I had the house to myself for a few weeks last summer (which seems like eons ago now), I would actually shut the water off to all my toilets. It didn't pan out - it's way too much work. Plus I can't abide by wearing a nappy with a load in it for more than a short time afterwards, so that requirement would either cut down a diaper in its prime, or, perversely, I would be in the strange position of "holding it for later" while wearing a diaper, adding another line of code to the wetting software, involving relaxing in one area while cinching up in another, which is not what nature intended. I have a great deal of respect for those with fecal incontinence, and those who choose to live that way; their's is a complex world. Mine is far simpler. I also have no idea if my daytime diapers would be reliable if asked to contend with that, I'd probably have to always wear plastic pants. 

[oznl]

On 3/27/2020 at 2:27 AM, Little Sherri said:

Oh the irony that the toilet let go. Have you ever tried changing one out yourself? I've done a few, and it's not that bad, at least the way they are installed here. Basically it's a couple of bolts that need loosening, the removal of the toilet, replacement of the wax or foam gasket (always go with wax for the replacement), and you drop the toilet back on and tighten the bolts. The parts I have left out are suctioning the vile water out of the bottom of the bowl, and, of course, trying to find a place to grab a toilet that doesn't make you want to then boil your hands. Disposable gloves help, but you have to behave like a surgeon and discard them as soon as the transfer operation is complete, or else you'll have an epiphany later that you now need to go sanitize your tools. Having a second set of hands is very helpful; I've done it myself but it's awkward, and toilets are ceramic, and wax gaskets are cheap but also easy to unevenly deform when lowering an oddly-shaped 30 Kg object that must remain more or less level.

I did google and found a bunch of North American videos covering the topic.  The thing is that:

a. North American toilets don't look like ours.  Maybe they are designed for the water to go down the other way

b. The plumber doesn't charge much and I can be confident that his repair actually works, he does this for a living, I'd do it once a decade.  Success is vital.

I only briefly glanced at the work as it occurred and the pan is rear-fed, not floor-fed and also it didn't look like a wax seal.  It seemed to be rubber or silicon.  The toilet is also simply silicon-fixed to the floor relying on surface area of adhesion (so it seemed, I've never studied it that closely, these days even less so).

On 3/27/2020 at 2:27 AM, Little Sherri said:

I've also tried the "I pledge to use my diapers for everything route", envisioning that when I had the house to myself for a few weeks last summer (which seems like eons ago now), I would actually shut the water off to all my toilets. It didn't pan out - it's way too much work. Plus I can't abide by wearing a nappy with a load in it for more than a short time afterwards, so that requirement would either cut down a diaper in its prime, or, perversely, I would be in the strange position of "holding it for later" while wearing a diaper, adding another line of code to the wetting software, involving relaxing in one area while cinching up in another, which is not what nature intended. I have a great deal of respect for those with fecal incontinence, and those who choose to live that way; their's is a complex world. Mine is far simpler. I also have no idea if my daytime diapers would be reliable if asked to contend with that, I'd probably have to always wear plastic pants. 

Yep.  This was simply about operational convenience.  I don't mind being in a loaded nappy, it's the smell for anybody within a 3m radius and the clean-up that I mind although come to think of it, it's also a short cut to nappy rash.  Just no...  If others are right and the descent into dependency involves loss of control of the "other", that's a potential game-changer.  So far there is no sign of that fortunately.

[Little Sherri]

3 hours ago, oznl said:

I only briefly glanced at the work as it occurred and the pan is rear-fed, not floor-fed and also it didn't look like a wax seal.  It seemed to be rubber or silicon.  The toilet is also simply silicon-fixed to the floor relying on surface area of adhesion (so it seemed, I've never studied it that closely, these days even less so).

I have to research this. I'm fascinated (particularly for one who has eschewed toilets) by the idea that your toilets evacuate themselves on a horizontal plain. rather than a vertical. Ours are all about gravity lending a hand, then a siphon closes the deal. How does it work horizontally? Is it like an airplane toilet? Are your sewers negatively pressurized? Why did they settle on a different wheel shape down there?  The mind boggles. 

 

3 hours ago, oznl said:

If others are right and the descent into dependency involves loss of control of the "other", that's a potential game-changer

 100% agreed on this. I don't want to have to manage that. So far, absolutely zero signs that's going to become an issue.