The Miracle of the Disposable Diaper...

My readers who know me will understand that this is a most unlikely title for a post of mine.  Debbie and I don't have any children, and don't particularly like children (though some recipes might tempt us).  So why would we know anything at all about disposable diapers, much less think them miraculous?

If you're inclined to make cracks about elderly incontinence, you'd be getting close – but it's not us that's having that problem, it's one of our dogs: Lea, our 15 year old female field spaniel.

According to data from the Field Spaniel Society of America, it's quite rare for field spaniels to live to this age (their data shows 1 of 366 dogs living to that age, and none any older).  Stroke is the most common identified cause of death at that age in field spaniels.

So we know that each day we have Lea still with us is a minor miracle in and of itself.  Amazingly she has no major health problems of any kind.  She has a treatable thyroid condition (very common, treated with tablets), and a strange hair problem (her hair is very thin and less dense than normal), but otherwise she's fine. 

Recently she's been unable to control her urination.  This was a miserable cleanup job for us, especially since most of our house is carpeted.  This is a common condition for elderly female dogs, and is often treatable with hormones – which we've tried, but unfortunately the treatment didn't work for Lea. 

So we started isolating her in a baby playpen, with absorbent pads on the bottom of it.  That worked in terms of keeping the house clean, but was miserable for Lea.  Some online research led me to another answer: diapers, specifically, modern super-absorbent polymer based disposable diapers.

There are some disposable diapers made specifically for dogs, but they're expensive – around a dollar each.  Diapers for human babies, of the right size, are much less expensive – about one third the cost.  The fit for a dog is different than for a human baby, but aside from a hole for the dog's tail they are actually very similar.  I found several posts from other dog owners dealing with this problem who recommended (quite specifically) Huggies “Snug and Dry” diapers with a manually-cut “tail hole” in them.

So we bought a small, experimental package of these diapers to see if they would work.  Here's the miracle part: they do work, and they don't interfere with Lea's normal behavior around the house.  Cutting the “tail hole” turns out to be a trivial affair – about 5 seconds with my pocket-knife, to make a slit.  The diapers come printed with a pattern that makes it easy for me to put the hole in the right place each time (I'm sure that wasn't their intent, but it works just fine nonetheless :).  The diapers have velcro-like fastening tabs that are reusable and secure.  The fit is not a problem at all; dog hips and baby hips are sufficiently similar that the same diaper fits tightly on either.  Lea's fur never gets wet, I think because when she urinates it goes straight into the diaper's absorbent polymers, right through a permeable layer on the inside.  The reusability of the fastening tabs allows us to remove the diaper before walking her, and (assuming she hasn't peed in it) putting it back on afterwards.

On average, the diaper saves us a house mess about once a day.  A couple of times I've been very surprised when removing the diaper, because it was quite heavy with captured urine – it is simply amazing how much those diapers can hold.  The payoff is that our ancient and beloved dog can be with us and her fellow dogs, just as she is used to – without us having to pay the price of a soiled home.  The diapers don't cost much (roughly $10/month) and they're really not much effort.  That qualifies as a miracle in my book!

Now we've ordered a bigger box of diapers, and we're hoping that one of these fine days we'll need to re-order...

Miracle on the Hudson (Simulation)...

Via my mom, this excellent simulation of Flight 1549 and its emergency landing in the Hudson River (by Captain Sullenberger):


These simulators are getting very realistic...

Miracle on the Hudson...

Just like everyone else, I was overjoyed to find out that everyone on board Flight 1549 survived the crash landing into the Hudson River. I remember well the very different outcome when Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac River on a wintry day in 1982, and when I first heard about Flight 1549 going down, that was the outcome I was imagining. The miraculous news came in about everyone surviving, and the later reports of the cool competence of the pilot and the instant competent reactions of ordinary people nearby...ah, that was a very good feeling, which I will cherish for some time, I think.

But I got to wondering about the cause of the crash that's being bandied about (no official cause has yet been released). The crew of the aircraft, and passengers who witnessed it, all say that Flight 1549 flew through a flock of geese that took out both engines. From friends in aviation, I knew that airports expended considerable energy getting rid of birds – and especially large birds like Canadian geese – from the areas around airports. They do this because “bird strikes” are well-known aviation hazards, one that pilots have been worried about ever since the dawn of the jet age (jet engines are particularly vulnerable to bird strikes). So I wondered why there was (apparently) a large flock of geese so close to La Guardia airport.

With just a bit of searching, I discovered that Senator Chuck Schumer used our tax dollars to help fund an organization called GeesePeace that advocates “non-lethal” methods for controlling Canadian geese populations and location. Reading through the news stories, press releases, and other materials, one can't help but ask this question: did we make a bad tradeoff between risk to aircraft and humane treatment of geese? I'd have to know a lot more to reach a conclusion, but I know enough right now to be suspicious. And it doesn't help me feel one bit better that Chuck “showboat” Schumer is involved...