The week's good news: Jan. 11, 2024

Man discovers mouse is tidying up his shed at night

Rodney Holbrook no longer has to clean up his shed — he has a mouse to do that. Holbrook, a wildlife photographer and retired mailman, noticed that things were moving around in his Builth Wells, Wales, shed overnight. He set up a night vision camera and discovered that a mouse was picking up nuts, bolts, corks and other items and putting them back into their box. Holbrook dubbed the tiny housekeeper "Welsh Tidy Mouse," and told BBC News that "99 times out of 100," the mouse cleans up during the night. Holbrook said the mouse seems to have fun moving the objects, and he doesn't "bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by the morning. I think he would tidy my wife away if I left her in there."

Friends organize race so runner can continue marathon streak

Chris Farley's yearly streak of running a marathon or 26.2 miles on his own in under three hours is still going strong, thanks to the support of his friends. The 47-year-old thought he had broken his 20-year streak in November, when he finished the New York Marathon in just over three hours. His friends didn't want to see him end the year like this, and two pals who own Charm City Run in Baltimore offered to organize a race just for him. He spent the last weeks of 2023 training for the NCR Last Chance Marathon, and on Dec. 27, he hit the pavement. At the starting line, there were 20 Charm City staffers and other friends and family cheering him on, and "that completely turned me around from some doubt to kind of feeling I was going to be able to accomplish it," Farley told The Washington Post. "It was another data point of how awesome this running challenge is and what this community does for runners." Farley's streak is still in place, with the runner completing the marathon in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 35.6 seconds. 

Robotic device is a 'positive step forward' for people with Parkinson's

Researchers have designed a soft robotic device that helps people with Parkinson's walk without freezing. When a freezing episode occurs, the person is temporarily unable to move their feet, putting them at a greater risk of falling. Teams from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Boston University Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences made a garment that is worn around the hips and thighs and "gives a gentle push to the hips as the leg swings," The Harvard Gazette said. This helps a Parkinson's patient "achieve a longer stride," and during trials it "eliminated the participant's freezing while walking indoors, allowing them to walk faster and further than they could without the garment's help." The team worked with a 73-year-old Parkinson's patient who had frequent freezing episodes, and he told the researchers the exosuit "is a positive step forward. It could help me to walk longer and maintain the quality of my life."

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Cat reunited with family in Illinois after being found in Wyoming

After a whirlwind adventure that took him from Nevada to Wyoming, Tyler the cat is back home in Illinois with his family. Tyler often spends weeks on the road with his owner, long-haul trucker Chad McIntyre. In late November, Tyler somehow got out of Chad's truck while stopped in Fernley, Nevada. Chad looked everywhere for the cat, and when he told his wife Brandi what happened, she immediately posted about Tyler on trucker social media and online lost and found pet groups. Five days later, at a truck stop 670 miles away in Rock Springs, Wyoming, Tyler was found and taken to a vet who scanned him for a microchip and discovered he was from Illinois. Several pet transport volunteers helped get Tyler home, and he was reunited with his relieved family on Dec. 31. "He's grounded from going on the truck for a while," Brandi told Cowboy State Daily.

These Vikings super fans have watched the team play at 20 stadiums in 20 years

In 2003, when her friends asked Nancy Solberg what she wanted to do for her 50th birthday, her only request was that they get out of town. They honored her wish by leaving Minnesota and going to see the Minnesota Vikings play at Soldier Field in Chicago. Every year since, these friends and Vikings super fans have gone to a new stadium to see their beloved team play. There have been trips to St. Louis, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, New Orleans and Los Angeles, and during the season they also attend home games in Minneapolis or watch together at someone's house. They lovingly call themselves The Vikings Hags, and wear matching yellow jackets emblazoned with the stadiums they have visited. The group has expanded from eight women to 13, and over the years they have grown closer during life's highs and lows. "We have each other's backs," one member told KARE 11.