Aachoo!

Cold Virus

When you were a kid, did your grandmother or mother tell you not to go outside without your coat or you would catch a cold? (Or just not a cold, "a death of a cold.") That was the wisdom at the time. Then, scientists let us know that you couldn't catch a cold from being cold, you caught a cold from a virus. I heard a report on NPR's Science Friday last week that shed new light on this whole issue.

For a while now they have known that the cold virus replicates better at the lower temperature in your nose (33 C) compared to the higher temperature in your lungs (35 C). That's why a cold virus is more likely to settle in your head than your lungs, and may be one reason why we get more colds in the winter. However, now they have done a study that shows when your nose is colder, you don't have as many immune cells in your nose respond to the cold virus. Therefore, the virus is more likely to grow and develop into a cold. (By the way, did you know that one in five people is carrying around a cold virus in their nose that is just waiting to multiply?) So there are at least two factors that suggest when you are colder, you are more likely to get a cold.

While I found the study interesting, what I found the most interesting was the fact that maybe grandma had it right. Being cold may make you more likely to get a cold. She may have not had the carefully controlled lab studies to back her up, but she knew what she knew.

Everything old is new again.

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A couple more things:

--The latest findings about the suppressed immune response of the nose came from studies done in rats and human nose cells grown in the lab. More work is needed.

--I have given only a very condensed and most general idea of these studies. To learn better what they're all about, here are some links:

http://io9.com/does-being-cold-make-you-more-susceptible-to-catching-c-510314172 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/yu-cvr010215.php 

http://www.nature.com/news/cold-viruses-thrive-in-frosty-conditions-1.13025 

Thankful Sunday--January 11, 2014

I am thankful for my suet feeders.

With frigid temperatures and snow, we have had a lot of birds visiting our suet feeders. Yesterday, we had three different kinds of woodpeckers! And for this, I am thankful.

Aldi's Shopping Carts

I am a total Aldi's convert. When they came to my area a few years ago, I didn't think much about them and actually never went into the store. Then I got hooked into the frugal blogging world and decided all of you Aldi's shoppers out there must know something. So I shopped there a few times trying this and that and eventually started to go there regularly for the good price on milk. Each visit I tried a few more things and finally reached the point that I did almost all of our grocery shopping there.

But there's another thing that I really liked about Aldi's besides the good prices. I liked the fact that I have never gotten a wobbly or bent shopping cart there. Even now when the carts are starting to show some wear, they still work well. And this is because you have to put down a quarter deposit to use the cart. They are chained together and released with a quarter--much like the luggage carriers in airports. A quarter is not much money these days, but it is just enough that people will return the cart to get their money back. That means there are no random carts in the parking lot. There are no Aldi's carts at other stores. There are no loose carts running into cars. No carts getting bent however it is that shopping carts get bent.

Now here's what I find interesting. I have a friend, Judy, who is a real bargain hunter and does not want to spend a penny more on something than she has to. And Judy won't go to Aldi's. She is insulted by the whole chained cart thing. She thinks it means that they don't trust her. That thought never occurred to me. I just know replacing carts is a big expense for stores and this was another way that Aldi's was able to keep their prices down.

Are you insulted by the chained carts at Aldi's or at least annoyed by them? Or have you ever even thought about it?

Broken Scales--Part 2

Broken Scales--Part One --Ward and I have been trying to figure out if out bathroom scale is broken.

The saga continues.

Our Christmas celebrations have been spread out this year and we had our final one last weekend. Even though we still have a few Christmas sweets around, we are trying to move onto more normal eating. In the meantime, Ward and I were curious to see what toll the holiday eating had taken on our weight. We weighed ourselves recently with debatable results.

We were gathered in our bedroom with Wally and Theo coordinating plans for the coming weeks. While he was listening, Wally stepped onto the scale and we heard a loud crack. We all thought that we might see the scale in two pieces because it was that loud. However, there was no visible damage and Wally and Theo both weighed themselves and said it seemed fine. But then Ward and I weighed ourselves and declared that something must have happened with that loud crack because the scale was weighing heavier than we thought it should.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but again I think the scale is broken. And I now have evidence in a loud crack to prove I'm right. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A Second Look--January 7, 2015

Downy woodpecker, male

Yesterday we had a few inches of snow which brightened up the otherwise muted winter landscape of grays and browns. However before that, Wally and I had a good time exploring our muted yard when he did a Second Look with me last weekend. He saw many things he was interested in but I won't feature them here because they were mostly things that I have shown you recently.

The thing I got most excited about this week were claws on the toes of a female cardinal. I never thought about the details of their feet and didn't realize that they had claws sticking out from their thin leathery toes. Besides curling their toes around a branch, they use their claws to also help them hang on in a tree. Makes perfect sense, however I never noticed them before. Sometimes I get bored with the idea of doing Second Looks since I have been doing them almost weekly for 3 1/2 years now (time flies), but then I find something totally new and it makes it all worth while.

Here are some things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

It was hard at first to see this mushroom hiding in the pine needles.

This little plant in the fork of the maple tree is one of the greenest things around.

We saw lots of deer prints.

The hoof prints of this cow were at least 2x as big as those of the deer.

Blue Jay

If you look very closely, you can see the claws of this female cardinal curving out from its toes.

You can see the claws better from this view.

Wally, my Second Look partner this week.