My rooster was getting frostbite regularly until I started rubbing vaseline on his comb and wattles and bought the heat lamp bulb. It's one of those really big red heat lamp bulbs people put in their bathrooms. It's 250 watts and just goes into a regular (but not plastic) socket. It cost me about $10 and has been well worth it. I only run it at night when it's below -15 and the odd day when it is that cold all day. The vaseline helps a lot too. He struggled fiercly until I started stroking his comb with the vaseline. Then he got really still and just stood quietly though the whole procedure. I think he likes it. I've done it a few times. It's necessary anyway, whether he likes it or not. I laughed the first time, as one of the lead hens came up really close, watching, and asking a quiet question. When she got in his face he gave her a little chirp without moving and she went away. I guess she was worried. It was so cute! I remember that about Thunder Bay. The things that do grow well there get HUGE due to the extra long daylight. The blackflies and mosquitoes are fierce but only for a very short period of time, then nothing. They get so bad in May they drive the moose out onto the highways. I saw my only real life bald eagle up north and up close. I actually had to use the break to keep from running into him with the car. He was flying down the highway in front of us. HUGE and gorgeous bird with a wingspan much larger than our car. I had no idea they were so big! I never have the camera when I need it!

Okay, I'll admit up front that I have no specialized knowledge (other than first hand experience) about this thing called "string of pearls" disease... but I do have some time to kill so let me ruminate and ramble on this topic. First of all, this whole condition in ill-defined... "string-of-pearls" is obviously just a reference to a single symptom and not even a complete description of a condition let alone naming a disease. There is no clue as to cause and effect.... at least the alternate terminology "protein poisoning" leads one to certain assumptions about the likely causes. I've seen mention elsewhere on the Internet trying to link the outward appearance of the dying worm to being bloated (gas) in obvious reference to the "pearls" however to my eye it looks like the "string" is the deformed part of the worm and it would suggest perhaps parts of the worm is being dissolved. And then there's these occasional references to cold... I'm not sure how temperature plays into this but the one time I experience worms with the condition it was pretty warm (60-70F) in the basement. Right now my worm bins are out in the unheated garage in the dead of winter and I'm measuring bedding temperatures below 40F and no problems... they also have literally mountains of food to munch on (and surprisingly are working on those piles, albeit slowly). As a sideline: I have two bins of Africans, which are reputed to die at anything under 50F... they too are out in the cold garage and though these guys are not eating hardly compared to the Euros and Red Wigglers, they are nevertheless alive and appear in good shape and leave me no doubt they will survive this winter without issue. My conclusion is that cold has no bearing on the condition called "string-of-pearls". Some things I know from other activities/hobbies I've been involved with in the past: too much simple sugars will often lead to fermentation build-up of alcohols and phenols, while excess protein can degrade to build-up ammonia concentrations. Also there are food stuff which contain proteolytic enzymes, such as papain (in papaya) and bromelain (in pineapple) that will slowly dissolve protein molecules... worms are almost entirely made up of protein... think about it. I will go back to my original observation that the weird part is the "strings" and not the "pearls". Based upon this my thinking is that something is dissolving the worms rather than the worms are blowing-up. Thus I might suggest that worms always be fed in one section of the bin and not scattered all over the surface... also I would suggest large amounts of high-protein be limited or mixed with more "carbs" and finally I'd try to keep the concentration of simple sugars to quantities that fermentation yeast/bacteria can process at a rate the worms can consume without flooding their bedding. As a wrap up to my ramblings here: Do I know what this "string-of-pearls" disease is? No... but I don't believe anyone else on the Internet knows for sure either. Thus everyone is entitled to their guesses. And now you have mine.

Interior ceiling height, porch facing wall and glass size/area (relative to total wall area), other walls exterior facing glass windows/walls, interior colors, porch direction, depth, width and ceiling height, porch floor material and color are a few criteria that all play a strong part in asthetics, interior light levels and feelings of grandeur. One can't single out one aspect of a design and expect it work without taking everything else into account. The same goes for every other living space in the home, how much care and attention to detail is put into it's design, will reflect the joy and satifaction you get out of it. The same design principles apply to almost every human made objects around us.

desert...thank you !! I am really loving the colors in here too..it is a surprise each time I walk in , as is the other room...my eyes are re-opened to the possibilities. Unfortunately it is only the case...the machine was gone when I bought the old table. I refinished the table ..someone had coated it with dark stain and they ruined the veneer. I tore the veneer off and cleaned and cleaned. Wish it did have a machine in it. I don't sew but it would be cool. c this is the dark stuff they had put on it : veneer removed as much as possible and some of the stain removed : all done except cleaning the black metal ( don't have a closeup pic of finished):