Keep your mice warm

A report in Science Daily says that a staggering 9 out of 10 drugs "successfully tested in mice and other animal models ultimately fail to work in people." Why does all this expensive research and testing prove a failure? Because the mice are cold.

Who outside of a research lab would know that the most commonly used test subjects are kept in a cold environment? It turns out that cooler temps help prevent aggression.  A Stanford researcher proposed the idea that the attempt to keep warm distorts the mice' metabolism, making their reactions to drugs less like ours than they would otherwise be.

The solution? Give the mice nesting material so that they can build a warm place and live like actual mice. The research involved different room temperatures, cages, and nesting materials in order to determine exactly what the mice like best. Read the short article here and find out what the researchers have to say about mice on vacation.

Record cold

You know those brisk fall days when you enjoy raking leaves and readying the yard for winter? We didn't have any this year.

Roses one week ago.



During the snow.

Today after the snow melted.

Monday's snow fell on top of icy roads and one day this week set a record for cold this time of year. Tuesday and Wednesday the dogs got only minimal walks because the snow was so dry that it squeaked under my feet, sending shivers up my back and teaching me that cold-shivers are preferable to sound-shivers.

Green leaves fell on the snow; I've never seen that before.



I saw interesting footprints around the house, some that I can't identify.

A bird hopped onto the back stairs.

The neighbor's cat walked in front of the garage.



And something really big crossed at the entrance to the driveway.
Because snow was falling, I ran inside and grabbed the first thing I could find to show the size--a five-inch rawhide chew stick.

By comparison, this is an Airedale footprint.

And here's the monster foot. What could it be? Does this neighborhood have a very weird newspaper carrier?

Verrrrry Cold

Along with most of the country, we're having unusually cold weather. It began Saturday night with snow falling on wet ground, rapidly turning to ice. A week's worth of temps ranging from 15 to 30 F is predicted, along with more snow. The chickens don't like it! Nobody does. The hens are spending much of the day inside their barn, which I've wrapped with a tarp to keep out drafts.

Then there's the water problem. The barn (a tiny coop shaped like a barn) is too small to put the waterer inside. I ransacked the garage today searching for the heated waterer I used to have but it seems to have disappeared in one of my several moves over the last 8 yrs. Guess I'll be checking the water several times a day.

Like most Airedales, Alanis frisked through the snow when she first saw it. Now it's ho-hum, just stuff on the ground. The stuff on the ground, however, is preventing us from taking our usual walks because I don't want to slip on the ice. People are just made wrong--dogs don't fall on ice.