wild journalists of Baraboo

We have animal visitors at the newspaper office. Exhibit 1., male red-winged blackbird who bangs himself against the window several times a day, wings all agog, pecking and scratching and crapping all over our little windowsills. We speculate that he is attacking his own reflection, defending his territory (which includes our newspaper, apparently) from himself. Features editor has used bird-brain as an analogy for the newspaper business. I think this bird is the funniest boss I have ever had.

Exhibit 2., Cecropia silkmoth. It appeared out of no where yesterday, hung on the ceiling, huge and nearly still. I wasted precious company time in identifying it. Then disappeared like a horror movie. Then re-appeared, spasming, on the floor by the cameras. It stayed there for a day. I tried to feed it sugar water, but it would not take. I set it outside when the rain stopped this morning, figuring it would prefer to die slowly in a quiet meadow than inside our little office. Then the rain came back worse. We reckon the moth is drowned.

Exhibit 3. As always, deer, subscribers, people on horseback, reporters.