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).
Modifying Our Focus of Winding Pathways
For nearly a decade we have been posting Winding Pathways Blogs mostly about various items of nature, especially those encountered in yards and around homes. Topics appear seasonally and we can usually find a new "spin" to keep blogs fresh. We have a large inventory...
Meet Lonely Louie the Turkey
Sometimes we feel sorry for Lonely Louie, so sorry that we toss him a scoop of corn. Flocks of wild turkeys have been visiting our yard almost daily for years. Most often we see gobbler groups. They are adult males with long beards and spurs. Once in a while a group...
What is the “To-Do” About Moles?
People make a "to-do" about moles. They might be the most disliked animal in suburbia. We have them at Winding Pathways and are sharing tips on what we do about them. Human Created Problems Suburban and urban soil has a common problem. It is too often compacted. ...
Look Up! Look Down! Shhhh, Listen!
A Season of Variables After a drab March “look up, look down, listen” season is here. It’s exciting and frustrating. Always something to see and hear and things we miss, too. What is look up, look down, listen? Well, when we walk in woods and prairies, we’re always...
How Do Yellow-Bellied-Sapsuckers Time Their Arrival?
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are precise timers. Every late March we look for this gorgeous, yet sometimes hard-to-spot, migrating bird. They visit our woods in April on their way to northern breeding areas. Weather Conditions Late March and April nights are often below...
Backpacker Meals and Car Travel
We Bring Along Backpacker Meals* We don’t do wilderness backpacking anymore but we are never far from backpacker meals at home and when we travel. Last May we drove to Casper, Wyoming, with plans to set our tent up at Nebraska’s Smith Falls State Park the first night...
Battery-Powered Chainsaws
Are battery-powered chainsaws worth the money? We decided to find out. * Gas chainsaws have been around for decades. Rich wondered if newer electric battery-powered chainsaws would be as functional and easier to use. So, he acquired a Milwaukee saw with a 16-inch bar...
Meet The Confusing Tree Sparrows
Tree Sparrows. Two species. What could be more confusing? Well, there’s more. Both look like common House Sparrows (formerly known as English Sparrows. Meet the American Tree Sparrows Marion glanced at our feeders recently and noticed what looked like a Chipping...
Can You Tell History from Syrup Tap Scars?
Scars in a tree at the Indian Creek Nature Center reveal maple syruping history. Back in 1979 Rich Patterson and volunteers approached a husky Box Elder tree, armed with a drill, spile, and buckets. It was early March. Nights were cold and frosty, followed by warm...
Winter Travel – Foiled By Blue Northers – Almost
What Do You Need to Know About Winter Travel? Guest Bloggers, Nancy Sauerman and Bruce Bachmann I have gone to conferences in the winter but that involves flights, motels, and schedules arranged by someone else. I have had my share of winter travel within the state...
Amusing Winter Squirrels
Winter squirrels are amusing as they scout out food resources, navigate high wires to cross the road, and forage at local feeders. Diane and Frank Olsen feed birds, and squirrels, daily and enjoy the antics and dexterity of the neighborhood...
Vrieze and Geese!
"Yes," to Geese If You Please Guest blog by Jody Vrieze When we lived in Plymouth, Iowa, my husband and I realized there is more to a home than just a house. We embraced our love of nature and animals by creating a retreat in our yard featuring natural diversity and...
Disappearing Ash Trees
Disappearing Ash Trees Ash trees are fast disappearing from American forests and towns. It’s tragic. There are several ash species, including white, green, blue, and black. A Chinese native insect, the Emerald Ash Borer, is killing them all quickly. It’s awful. Years...
Reflecting on 2022
Several people have sourly said, “Good riddance to 2022.” This day, swaddled in dense fog that muffles sound and limits sight, I’m reflecting on 2022. As we noted in the Gratitude jar on the shelf, the year before, “Good things DID happen (in 2021).” Below are some...
What to Do BEFORE Power Outages
Power outages. They happen in an instant. Most are only a flicker but some can last for hours when the wind’s whistling and the temperature’s dropping outside. Or in summer when the heat rises. What’s the best thing to do in power outages? Well, it’s best to...
Winter Trees
Winter trees. We love ‘em even though they don’t sport their cooling green summer leaves or October’s color. When autumn leaves fall, trees look wonderfully different. Their nakedness reveals sights that are difficult to notice during summer. Here are some of the...