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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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Common Nighthawks Wing Overhead
Sometimes an animal's name is misleading. Take the common nighthawks. It’s not a hawk and it doesn’t only fly at night. We often sit evenings on our back deck at Winding Pathways. In late summer 2022, we have been treated as dozens of aerial dancers – nighthawks -...
Sockeye Salmon – an Amazing Fish
Remembering Sockeye Work Rich Patterson and Kammi Matson of the Popsie Fish Company In early July we enjoyed an amazing natural phenomenon at the Campbell Creek Science Center in Anchorage, AK. We walked with our daughter to the small stream that gives the Center its...
Amazing Bird Migrations
While We Were Sleeping We were tired on the evening of August 21. Crawling into bed at 9 pm we were oblivious to the traffic jam winging over our insulated roof. Late August. The fall bird migration has started. That night it picked up steam. In the morning we...
Losing Oreo: the Death of a Pet Leaves Sadness
We’re not normally pet people. Never had a dog or cat. When our children were growing up, we had bunnies. After they grew up and left home years ago, we cared for the bunnies left over from their youth and adopted a couple from Kirkwood Community College in the early...
Was the Walking Stick Embarrassed?
Imagine how embarrassing it would be to be caught stark naked in public. Maybe that’s how the Walking Stick, a huge insect, felt that we spotted clinging to a shelf outside our house. About 3000 species of Walking Sticks live worldwide. All love hiding. Their...
Frog Statue Fun
Near our home is a frog statue that a neighbor decorates seasonally and for special occasions. Here are some photos I have taken over the years. [gallery columns="4" size="medium"...
Views From the Recliner
Views From the Recliner Guest Blogger, Susan Fellows My first-floor, corner apartment sits on the edge of a large green space and parking lot surrounded by a stand of pines, maples, and oaks. On one side is a complex of boutique stores, restaurants, and...
Do You Remember Launching?
Nearly everyone remembers a brief, often scary time. Usually, it comes within months of high school graduation. It’s time to leave the familiarity of home and venture out on new endeavors. Change is often exciting but it requires venturing out into the unknown -...
Where Did Those Carrots Come From?
Gardeners across the world proudly bring freshly picked vegetables and fruits into the kitchen. They’re lucky to have an amazing array of delicious plants to grow and enjoy. It wasn’t always that way. Consider Native Americans. Prior to Columbus, many lived in...
Salute to Big Bracht Verbena
A chicken run is one tough place for plants to live, and our run at Winding Pathways is even tougher than most. Every day we let our chickens roam around the run. A bright baking sun broils the sandy soil all day long, so it’s hard to imagine that any plant can thrive...
Have You Enjoyed a Garden’s Delicious Ignored Foods?
Varied Garden Produce Midsummer. It’s the heart of gardening season as millions of Americans proudly bring tomatoes, beans, squash, and a host of other crops into the kitchen from the backyard garden. Many don’t realize they ignore eating a typical garden’s hidden...
Dollar a Gallon Gas
Want to buy gas for a buck a gallon? Well, you can but you won't find it at a service station. It’s available at the electrical outlet in the garage or shop. Battery-Operated Tools Nearly ten years ago we switched from plug-in carpentry tools to battery (cordless)...
Why Did Mother Goose Nest in a Parking Lot?
One of nature’s most alluring sounds is the song of flying Canada geese. Years ago, one had to travel to remote marshes to enjoy it. Not anymore, and a mother goose in Cedar Rapids shows she enjoys urban life. Giant Canada geese were once nearly exterminated, but a...
Iowa: A Producer of Fine Hardwoods?
When we tell people that Iowa is a major producer of some of the world’s most beautiful hardwood, they think we’re nuts. After all, we live in the corn state, where it’s possible to drive a hundred miles viewing only crops. “Iowa is the sweet spot for the highest...
Pandemic Year 2.0 Busier than Busy!
Coming up to a year from the last post on the features we wrote for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, here is an updated list for the second half of 2021 and the first half (almost) of 2022. These features are in addition to our regular work with Hoover's Hatchery blogs and...
Why Plant Potatoes?
Good Friday Tradition On a cold April morning, we planted a row of potatoes at Winding Pathways. This plant has made an amazing long journey to reach our yard. Potatoes are native to South and Central America and were cultivated by native people long before Columbus....