December is here, and as I do at the beginning of each new month/season, I’m thinking about what’s going on right now and how things have changed from the previous year’s month or season. I enjoy doing this—I’m not sure why—so I hope you will bear with me.

It’s December 2020…

 *As with each December, there’s a sharp edge to the air; 40 degrees F. in December doesn’t feel as warm as 40 degrees F. in March or April—maybe even February. It’s due to the earth’s position, I guess.

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*There’s no snow here at Pipi’s Pasture, except where it’s shady most of the day, such as the area in front of the house and part of the driveway.

*Have you noticed the great big full moon at night?

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*I have not cleaned the vines and dry vegetation from the pots on the front porch so the tomato and bell pepper pots look sad. It’s true of the garden plot, too, but I just keep thinking that everything is resting until spring.

*The trees are about 95% bare of leaves, and the deer are keeping the fallen leaves eaten up off the lawns.

*The birds, mostly starlings, have eaten up most of the marble-size crab apples off the trees in the front and back of the house.

*Amazingly, I have heard the startled sounds of robins when I’m out at the corral doing chores (you know the sounds they make when they see cats nearby), and although I have been told that robins stay around all winter, I have never known them to be here this time of the year.

*Even more amazing, my brother, Duane Osborn told me that he recently heard the sounds of a sandhill crane.

*I’m having to resort to using my “retractable” garden hose to fill stock tanks, and each morning I have to cut ice off the small water tanks; the ice pile is growing.

*The cats are staying in bed much longer on these cold mornings and aren’t real active until the sun has been up awhile.

*It seems that everyone put up Christmas decorations early this year; it makes my pumpkins seem out of place.

*It’s so dark in the morning that I’m feeding the cows at 7:00 A.M. instead of 6:30 A.M.

*After breakfast the cows enjoy standing or napping in the sunlight, their eyes closed as they happily chew their cuds.

One change that is all too evident this month/year is the pandemic. It seems to me that the earth has tilted, kind of like a seesaw, and everything is topsy-turvy. Like everyone else, I’m praying for a miracle to put things right again.