the word is decEivers ( English is a tricky language sometimes). When I wrote that title it was -12C and, with the windchill, the thermometer bottomed out at -24C, which for Toronto is cold. However there were squirrels climbing over the trees and along the fence at the bottom of the garden, behaving much as they do in the summer. In a previous blog I'd written that these small creatures anticipate weather changes and so yesterday I posed the question on my blog, in public so to speak, whether I was right or wrong. You be the judge.

Do squirrels know when good weather is coming?

There are two foot stalactites on the ice that lies over my garden pond. These impressive, randomly- shaped ice sculptures have been created by air bubbles. They look like magicians’ hats designed by a Mad Hatter who has had more than tea to drink at his last party. They have come about because of our nine goldfish.

My dog is a fighter with a short fuse. She has been ever since we got her twelve years ago. She picks on smaller dogs to show her superiority, fights with dogs her size to see who's top dog and is not afraid of anything except large Alsations. Not that this behaviour is in her best interest (torn ear $1000+ to repair, socially outcast, nose rubber when in kennel) but that's the way she is and we've learnt to accomodate.

Scanning scientific summaries is an interesting game. Recently a paper was published which suggested that the weather affects the performance of those "sticks" on which a diabetic puts a drop of blood after finger prick. It recommended that this problem be looked at more closely as results may be skewed incorrectly to the patient's detriment. After all, careful monitoring of blood sugar, often several times a day, is the cornerstone of modern diabetic treatment.

That the science and practice of public health is a valuable endeavour is based on the understanding that small changes in individual behaviour bring about huge changes in population well being.

Here is an example: In 1996 figures for Canada: if everyone had not gone to their doctor just ONCE, they would have saved the health service the equivalent of what the Canadian federal government spent on medical research that year.

It is interesting when research is validated. A year or so ago an article appeared in the medical press which showed that thunderstorms in Alberta were associated with an increase in the number of asthmatics presenting in the e.r. of local hospitals. A couple of months earlier a similar paper was published in the U.K. There was conjecture that lightnings split spores and that these triggered asthmatic attacks.

In every family there is someone who knows when the weather is about to change...because one of their joints hurt. They're usually older people because it seems that the wear and tear of everyday living sensitizes their back, or fingers, wrists, shoulders, or knees, to fluctuations in the weather. For a long time doctors have tried to pin down which weather parameter is the cause, the root of the trigger of arthritis. Is it humidity, or temperature or atmospheric pressure? But they have been frustrated in their efforts because no two experimenters have come to the same conclusion.

We live in a gaseous ocean that extends from the earth's surface to the limits of our atmosphere. It has hidden currents we can't see but in which we live, work and play. These currents have an effect on us, just as fish are affected by the behaviour and character of the waters in which they swim. Many years of fact finding have given us an idea what these currents-- which we call the weather-- can do to us. Forinstance, a particular type of headache is a well known result of special changes in the currents ... In other words weather is a trigger for migraine.

Global warming is in the news, isn't it? How could it not be. There was a three hour program on the radio today (CBC) about it's effects and how to bring them home to people on a personal level. This is right up MediClim's alley because: Global warming=climate change. To know what climate change will do to your health you have to know what the climate is doing to your health right now. EQUALS MEDICLIM...first step.