Not the critter

I thought I'd dress up my critter du jour report by telling you I saw an elk on the way into Reedsburg today for lunch, but although I slowed down by the Nanchas Elk Ranch, I didn't see any. (Click on their name to go to their website and hear an elk!) I have seen elk there occasionally, but not today.

Many days I see llamas -- fairly commonly raised in Wisconsin now -- and even this emu at one of the nearby petting zoos I drive by. Wisconsin Dells used to be a spot of natural beauty with lots of low-key, low-tech family fun spots -- stocked fishing ponds, petting zoos, deer parks. Now all that is at risk of disappearing under enormous waterparks, the world's largest wave pool and so on.

When I was at Holy Hill, we had a Living Nativity every year in December, and one neighbor came as a shepherd and provided sheep, goats and a llama. Not sure any llamas were there in Bethlehem, but how can you turn down a llama? Better yet, we had a neighbor who had a camel, Freddie, who was always the hit of the event with the Wise Men standing there looking nervous. You don't expect to be holding a camel standing in the snow, so who knew what he might do?