Cute boys - Ben, Henry and Camden - on a "palm motorcycle" while out on a hiker hui outing this morning.

Sam remarked about the earth treadmill tonight while we were reading up on fever and how the body manages homeostasis unless challenged. The challenge might be an infection – the fever denatures the viral capsid coating so it can’t take over your cell’s machinery to churn out more viruses. This was particularly relevant because Sam had a fever today so was home from school, lounging. I love sick days, except I feel bad for the kiddos if they are really feeling awful. Thankfully it’s just another low fever so hopefully it will be a short course for them.

Back to the treadmill. While reading the Biology book tonight about homeostasis and fever, we saw a picture of a ghost crab on a treadmill! The ghost crabs are our little beach friends so we were curious to see what he was doing in a tank on a treadmill. The scientists were measuring metabolic output. So I explained what a treadmill is – a sheet covering two cylinders that spin around and you have to keep up on it or you fall off (like I did in ancient times past while enrolled in a running study – I closed my eyes while running on a treadmill hooked up to all kinds of equipment because I was bored  – apparently that is not a good idea on a treadmill!). Sam says “The earth is like a big treadmill, except going really fast.” I agree. Earth is spinning extra fast I think right now. I just can’t seem to keep up! Thank goodness for my mom running out for emergency supplies of all sorts – she is expecting a call around 7pm every night I think 🙂