Solving the Insurmountable Bathtub Problem
OK, so after hip replacement surgery, one cannot take baths. One can take showers with a hand-held shower device, and those are easily obtainable. Getting in and out of the tub-with-shower, though, is an issue.

Mostly it is solved by using a tub transfer bench. The double tub transfer bench is a thingie that has two legs inside the tub and two outside. One sits down on the outside half of the bench and then slides over into the tub, carefully raising one's legs to get into tub.

Well, one does that unless one has a beloved old clawfoot bathtub, in which case one is told that a beloved old clawfoot bathtub will require raising the legs higher than is allowed for six weeks after surgery. And then one weeps for a moment or two.

However! Through the combined powers of ingenuity and silliness, I believe we have a fix that is practical, inexpensive, and highly amusing. Because I am a tub monster and not a shower person, I don't have a longing for water under pressure spraying at me. And we already have a weatherproof metal cafe chair, a sturdy one, in the house....

Yep. Cheap tiny wading pool + sturdy metal cafe chair + watering can = happy clean Lioness with water hot poured down the back, as Tolkien would say. I figure the kitchen's the best location for this.

"Hey! Time to water the Elise!"

*breaks up in giggles*

P.S. Anybody got a recommendation for the cheapest tiniest lowest-edge wading pool available in the Twin Cities? Extra points for something that I'll think is hilarious.

PLEASE NOTE: Don't worry about how I'd drain such a pool, or whether filling it with water from a hose is warm enough, or any of those things; I'm only going to need to catch the runoff from one or two watering cans full of water. I'm not going to be cleared for soaking for quite some time after the surgery. This setup is merely a shower substitute. OK?