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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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Moles In Winter
Moles in winter? You bet! We were amused and amazed to look out our den window and see a heaped-up line of topsoil on top of several stepping stones. Even in Winter, our moles are active! Many people hate moles because their tunneling raises mini ridges in the lawn...
TURNING FOOD WASTE INTO BACKYARD GOLD
Americans Waste Food! We were astounded to read a news story stating that 20% of Iowa’s trash is food waste. That’s about 556,000 tons of food tossed out by our state’s people, and Iowan’s aren’t unusual. Americans everywhere discard food into the trash or grind it...
Amazing Ice!
Ice is a miraculous substance. Actually, it is water that is so amazing. Ice is just one of its three phases. Water is essential for life and one of its unusual characteristics is how it behaves when its temperature drops. Like most substances water contracts as it...
Where We Buy Garden Seed
Each winter we love discovering colorful seed catalogs in our mail. The landscape may be snowy and the air frigid but flipping through catalogs and savoring photos of flowering prairies and ripe tomatoes makes us think spring. We buy many types of seeds for our...
Night Vision
Winter is the season of cold and darkness but there's no reason to stay inside. It's an outstanding time to enjoy the yard, a wetland, or a nearby woods, and these places are even more fascinating after dark than they are by day. Just use your night vision. Winding...
Squirrel Condominiuims
Winter is the best time to spot dens and nests. Usually, we think of bird nests, and we see abandoned ones topped with mounds of snow along roadsides and in shrubs. When we look up, we also spot large clusters of leaves and sticks – squirrel nests. Squirrels make...
2017 Labyrinths
Midwest by West by Southwest, I walked several labyrinths and with the help of several stellar friends re-created the labyrinth in our front yard. With the help of wonderful friends, the five-circuit Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth replaced the seven-circuit Classical...
Obsidian Gets Around
Today it’s easy to buy just about anything by touching a few keystrokes. In an amazingly short time, a package from Amazon or another company will arrive. However, it wasn’t always easy to acquire important things. Consider obsidian. Obsidian is a fascinating rock...
Packing Up Christmas
Two articles from The Gazette have sat on my desk for months waiting. Like Advent. Waiting. And, now, with the Holiday Season wrapping up, Epiphany within, Bowls in full swing, and the New Year upon us, these two articles are more poignant than ever. “Packing Away the...
The Work of Christmas
"When the song of angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner,...
American Meteorological Society’s Five-Hacks for Winter Driving
Winding Pathways subscribes to the American Meteorological Society's newsletters and updates. Here is a link to their latest suggestions to prepare and weather winter! "5 Cold-Weather Hacks for Winter Driving."
STAYING WARM DURING A WINTER POWER OUTAGE
Don’t be caught in the cold.
People can survive a few cold days in relative comfort by piling on layers of clothes or snuggling under thick quilts at night. But, even the most well insulated house will gradually cool as soon as a power outage shuts down the furnace. Eventually pipes will freeze, causing enormous damage as water squirts on carpet, furniture, books and electronics. In fact everywhere!
Favorite Stocking Stuffers
As the rush for Holiday gifts gets into full swing, we sometimes wonder how to "fill" those stockings with meaningful, fun and inexpensive stuffers. Here are some of Winding Pathways favorite items to be prepared for long dark nights and to simply enjoy cozy winter...
Catching Up With the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth
Big changes have happened since this summer's vibrant growth of the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth. Read about the changes on the 1080Labyrinth site.
Tree Tales
Carole Teator: Thank you for inviting my story. And thank you for the column on the catalpa tree. I do enjoy them, particularly when they are in bloom. This is a story of losing a tree. Carole shares that it "... helped me realize how deeply one can mourn the loss...
Giving Thanks.
This past year I have again kept a Gratitude Jar and almost daily write on a 2"x2" sticky note the date and a Gratitude. Periodically, I pour out the notes and look at them. Since this is the time many in America are expressing on social media their gratitudes, I...