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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Knot Just Lumber
Want great local lumber? Check out resources and options before heading to big box stores. You might find lumber, wood products, and classes locally.
White-Footed Mouse
We’ve blogged before about a white-footed mouse in the house. We read the story to our kids when they were little. Time after time we snuggled down with the book and they never got tired of hearing why the mouse might be cute but doesn’t belong in the house. A recent...
Just What Are Gaiters, Spats, and Puttees?
Getting ready to brave the elements? Remember to keep your legs and feet protected.
Winter Owls
We live in a world of dizzying change in how we live, drive, and communicate. Like many people, we struggle to keep up with change and stay modern, so it’s comforting to know that some things simply don’t change. Fortunately, winter owls don’t change. In March 1982...
Prostate Cancer Adventure
Phone Call Sets In Motion Action In early 2005 Rich received an attention-grabbing phone call that set in motion a prostate Cancer Adventure. “Are you sitting down?” Dr. Rippentrop asked. “Yup,” Rich replied. “You have prostate cancer. Come to my office tomorrow and...
Find Joy in January
Lots to Experience in January (reworked from the Patterson’s “Iowa’s Wild Side” column originally in the Cedar Rapids Gazette) Winter in Iowa is erratic. Mild. January thaws. Grey, damp, and achy mornings. Frigid. Blustery. Sunny, sparkling days when all is right. We...
We Found A Way to Thwart House Sparrows!
Frustration Yields to Creativity Reprising the blog on thwarting House Sparrows. Here is a recap of our initial frustration and subsequent ways to encourage native birds and discourage exotics. As we wrote earlier, hordes of House Sparrows almost made us give up...
Journal Writing Helps Recall Events
What did I do yesterday morning? Did I make it to that meeting last Monday? Darn. I can’t remember. I’m forgetful. Fortunately, my journal writing isn’t. 18,250 days Every day since April 1973 I’ve written a simple journal entry on small format lined binder paper....
Labyrinth Travels 2023
Each January I post labyrinth walks of the year. Below are labyrinth travels 2023. Wide Travels Branching out from the Heartland, we explored different regions of North America and took in labyrinths along the way. Some labyrinth travels 2023 were deliberately to...
Lessons From A Terrible Car Accident
Rich helped triage a recent car crash near our home.
House Sparrow Blues
House Sparrow Blues One of our favorite Thanksgiving Day activities is enjoying a sumptuous meal while watching chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, and woodpeckers enjoy the seeds we put out for them just outside our window. Thanksgiving 2023 brought mostly...
What to Do When Spotting a “Bald-Faced Hornet” Nest?
Autumn Reveals Nature's Wonders November’s wind stripped the leaves off one of our maples and revealed a big gray football-shaped bald-faced hornet nest. Although we’d walked under it all summer, we had no clue it was there. This fall many people will discover similar...
Windows, Deadly for Birds
Why do Birds Fly Into Windows? Windows, deadly for birds. According to the National Audubon Society, about one billion birds are killed every year when they crash into windows. About half collide with low commercial building windows with the rest crashing into home...
Setting Our Yard on Fire!
On Fire? Many readers know we burn our yard. What? Are we nuts? Fire kills. Fire destroys. Well, it can but it also cleanses and heals. It's one way to manage natural growth on properties. So, on a balmy early November day, we set our yard on fire! Flames towered...
How to Mulch Leaves
A few years ago we found a way to make removing leaves fast, easy, and good for the lawn. We actually don’t remove them but mulch ‘em in place. We’re old enough to remember childhood autumns when homeowners raked their leaves to the curb and set them on fire. Smoke...
Sweet Home Alabama
Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd is a “heartfelt tribute to the state of Alabama.” Adopted by Alabama tourism as its slogan the “catchy” phrase indeed speaks to the variety and comfort of this truly Southern Hospitality state. On a hot and...