Grandma Schrock's art club makes Christmas wreaths as a fundraiser. This one is also helping hold the house up.  Those are fake asphalt bricks, not the real thing.
Our favorite rose by the old concrete birdbath isn’t really growing this month, but if you get up close, it’s definitely still alive, well and prickly.

Here’s the remnant of a magpie nest from this last year. It’s in some lilac bushes, some 10 foot off the ground.
Using the plasma cutter on thin stainless steel is just like drawing on paper, only this silver kitty will live a hundred years.
More of Mom’s work. These three characters seem to be chattering their teeth in the cold.
You want tough cactus? I got a few segments as starts from an old German lady up by Minnehaha Park here in Spokane back about 20 years ago. I was in her back yard and told her how much I admired a gnarly 4’ by 8’ patch of these prickly plants. She picked up a nearby shovel and hacked off some of the nearest ones. They’ve lived outside through every winter since, they bloom a few flowers every 3 or 4 years and live on next to no water every summer and just keep multiplying. Heaven help us if they ever get loose, they’ll take over the world!
Here’s the top of one of the compost heaps.  Pumpkins and Pineapples!
Thanks to some friends, I’ve got lots of leaves to spread on next year’s cropland.
I always like to let a few mullein plants grow in the garden.  Here’s one that made it to old age and now serves as a bird perch for smaller birds.
Some rosemary makes a brave show in the snow.  Next year, watch out!
The birds have pretty well picked over these sunflowers for seeds.  They better have moved on or have something else figured out for their next meal.
A couple of views of Hangman Creek. Notice the ice forming on the sides.
 
You’re welcome, Parks Department, for me picking up these leave and needles for mulch.  I saved them the labor of picking them up, plus the fuel to haul them out of the county to the composting facility.