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!
Join our email list
Sign up for FREE Winding Pathways emails (approximately weekly).
Pileated Woodpecker on Suet
The pileated woodpecker checked out the suet and finally flew to the ground then up to the feeder to hammer out chucks of suet. Then, off to the tree where a female played hide and seek with it. [playlist type="video"...
Save Baby Chicks From Certain Death
We weren't worried when a 37-degree north wind took to blowing on Saturday, March 25th. Our chicks were safe inside the barn brooder. Then, our electric power went out. Normally that wouldn't be a problem. Our wood stove keeps the house warm without electricity...
Turkey Time!
Well, the turkey characters are at it, again! Up they come each morning even before sun up, looking quite fit and hale, and gobbling for breakfast. At Winding Pathways we get a kick out of the web pages and sporting flyers that detail all the equipment one needs to...
Cold Streams, Warm Memories
March is the perfect time for kids to slop around in puddles, intermittent streams, and small creeks. We get filthy, soaking wet, and learn! How ice forms. How it melts. Where critters live in the deep freeze. Balance teetering on rocks. Using sticks as levers to pry...
Bald Eagle Parents
We're lucky to have a pair of bald eagles nesting within walking distance of our home. Occasionally we clamber through the woods to check on the couple, but we're careful to not disturb them. We stay a hundred yards away from their nest tree and spy on them through...
26 Hours Old: Baby Chicks Arrive
Baby Chicks Find a Home at Winding Pathways The call from our post office came at 6 a.m. “Could you please come soon and pick up a box of peeping baby chicks,” requested the pleasant postal worker. Soon we were in the car en-route to retrieve the babies. We were...
Box Elder Bugs
Lots of box elder bugs are traipsing through homes this winter to the consternation of human occupants. This amazingly common and crafty insect is a true bug named for common box elder trees. You don't have to have box elder trees nearby to “enjoy” visits by the bug....
Empowerment
The world seems stressed now and yet, the tools we can use to help center and calm are sometimes gathering dust as we try to "figure things out." In this time of Lenten Reflection and approaching Passover, Sheryl Crow's song and lyrics resonate with me. "Out of Our...
Spring Into the Mud Season!
This blog from Community Playthings caught the eye of Winding Pathways. Indeed, today's society is too concerned with correctness, cleanliness, and convention. A Buddhist saying goes something like this: spend twenty minutes outside everyday. If you think you are...
Dandelions Never Roar!
As soon as a few warm days arrive early each spring we search our yard at Winding Pathways for two of our favorite plants - Stinging Nettles and Dandelions. To most people they're weeds. To us they're delicious yard gifts. STINGING NETTLES Stinging nettles are one of...
Overlooked Preparedness Item*
The United States seems to have one storm season followed by another. The year starts with blizzard threats and then transitions into tornado season. That's followed by hurricane season until blizzards again become possible in late fall. Many people have prepared for...
Titmice – Late Winter Songsters
Nearly everyone who feeds birds across the eastern United States enjoys luring the black capped chickadee, white breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker, goldfinch, and cardinal to the yard. All are fascinating nonmigrating birds of deciduous forests and suburbia. We...
House Cats Rough On Wildlife*
A recent article in LIVING BIRD Magazine reported that cats kill more than 2.4 billion birds each year in the United States. Their numbers came from the book, CAT WARS, by Peter Marra and Chris Santella. use cats are fascinating animals that are loved by 600 million...
Learning from Photovoltaics
To: Robert Dix, Brad Duggan, and Lisa Henderson (all helped us with photovolotaic) What we've learned from our PV System This week our photovoltaic system has given us a great learning opportunity. We've now had several crystal clear days and the envision...
2016 Labyrinths
A collection of labyrinths I visited and walked across the country in 2016.
Lions in this Here Country!
Early one December evening a neighbor was driving home near our home when she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. Thinking a deer was about to dart in front of her car, she immediately stopped to prevent a collision. She was astounded when a mountain lion...