Welcome to Winding Pathways
Winding Pathways encourages you to create a wonderous yard, whether that yard is an expansive acreage, a suburban lot or a condominium balcony. Go outside and play!
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How Can Parents Influence Your Childhood Passions?
Keep the Photos! An old photo or letter can bring back memories. That happened to Rich recently and helped him recognize both good parenting and a lifelong passion. Rich was sorting through a stack of family documents when he discovered a paper his mother wrote in his...
What Can Solar Panels Tell You About Local Weather?
Many people dread the arrival of the monthly electric bill. We look forward to receiving it. A few years ago, we hired Site Gen Solar to install an Enphase solar electric, or photovoltaic (PV), system on our barn roof. Although it’s a small system, when combined...
Can You Grow Sweet Potatoes in Iowa?
As we watched squirrels gleaning sunflower seeds from feeders in our backyard, we dined on 2021s sunshine! Thanks to last season’s sun our crop of sweet potatoes produced a bountiful crop, and we ate them until our last one became part of our February 8th dinner....
What is Lithium?
Only a few years ago few people had heard of lithium. Now almost everyone relies on this odd metal in their phone, laptop, and tools. It’s a world-changing element. Metal????? Lithium is a truly odd metal. Iron, lead, and other common metals are heavy. Not lithium....
How Can Backpacking Meals Save the Day?
Research Yields a Find Part of our Winding Pathways business is writing travel and outdoor adventure articles for the Cedar Rapids GAZETTE and other publications. Preparedness blogs on our website encourage people to prepare for emergencies by keeping non-perishable...
What’s the Deal with Furless Tailed Squirrels?
The birds we share Winding Pathways with have a good life. Our property has old trees, prairies, and bushes to provide lots of natural food plus nooks and crannies for chickadees, nuthatches, and other species to hide and shelter from tough weather. Birds aren’t the...
What’s a Nor’Easter?
New England's Nor'easter January 29-20, 2022 by Susan Fellows, guest blogger What is a Nor-easter? Dover, NH, 4:00 a.m. Temperature 5 degrees. The wind chill is probably close to -10 degrees. Wind gusts 40-45 mph throughout the day. What is a blizzard? Wind gusts...
How Do Squirrels Foil Hawks?
How this urbanite saw a squirrel foil a hawk.
Chickadees Never Go the the Dentist – But Have to Eat Rocks
Millions of families love watching chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers visit backyard feeders. A joyful daily task is bringing them a day’s supply of sunflower seeds, millet, or even cracked corn. But, often an important part of their diet is ignored. Birds lack...
What Was Good About 2021?
2021 Retrospective At the end of last year, I regarded 2021 with a jaundiced eye. Then, I read the little gratitudes I had kept in the jar all year and realized the good that did happen and that we created. Below is a summary. Labyrinths The year 2020 ended with the...
EGO-centric!
Back in October, we took a gamble. We bought an electric snowblower. Our driveway at Winding Pathways is about 440 feet long, and Iowa gets plenty of snow. It’s too much to shovel, so years ago we bought a gas snow blower. It worked for the first winter but then it...
Did You Attend a One-Room School?
One-Room School Houses Readers’ Reminisce Note: The original article appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sunday, December 19, 2021. We invited readers to share their reminiscences and included here some that were in the original feature. We begin this blog with the...
Why Do Geese Love Lawn Mowers?
Artful Dodgers Walking one of Cedar Rapids’ trails sometimes is like a skier racing a slalom course. Instead of weaving between flags, pedestrians must dodge piles of goose poop. It wasn’t always that way. Before the mid-1980s few geese lived in town. Cedar Rapids...
Harvesting Snow
Use nature to capture snow that will replenish the soil in the growing season.
Now on to 2021 Labyrinth Walks!
Chronologically I trace the year in different labyrinths.
Save on Energy Bills Right NOW!
We knew natural gas prices were way up but our $80+ November bill both surprised and pleased us. Surprise: That’s a high bill for us. Pleased: Our efforts at energy efficiency and wise house management kept the bill from being higher. Nearly everyone can reduce...