Archives for December 2010
Wish List item for today
I’m madly and happily fulfilling orders from our online store today and we’re really close to being out of 10.5″ x 16″ padded envelopes. I’ll order more at the end of the day, but thought I’d mention it on the blog in case someone wanted to pick them up for us through our Amazon wishlist or elsewhere. They’re a pretty good deal through amazon since the shipping is free, but if anyone can find a better deal, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m always looking for good prices on shipping supplies.
It’s a wintry mix kind of day at the sanctuary. A good backdrop for sending out holiday gifts.
Speaking of which, I’m really in love with the Burrito lip balm. The scent / taste of pomegranate is pretty subtle and it’s a high-quality vegan lip balm made by EcoLips. Who wouldn’t want to carry Mr. B. around in their pocket? I’m sure a lot of folks would be happy to get one or two in their stocking or for a Chanukah gift, or perhaps incorporated into the ribbon on a package that contains other sanctuary merchandise!
Happy Christmas, Peter Cross!
Marie thought Peter would appreciate a season’s greetings sponsor-a-day while he is away from home. So, a very Happy Christmas (as you Brits say) to you, Peter!
This is the December photo in our 2010 calendar, and one of my personal favorites:
Playful Jody
In one of our recent blog comments, the topic of whether or not Foxie likes any other types of dolls (other than troll dolls) came up. Diana explained that for the most part, it seems like Foxie doesn’t like stuffed animals and that she and Jody will sometimes team up and violently shred them. Though I’ve seen Jody do this many times, Diana saying that reminded me of this clip I caught on Thanksgiving Day. Maybe it’s a love/hate kind of thing…?
Holiday Wishes
I was adding some items to our Amazon.com wishlist and it dawned on me that most blog readers probably don’t know too much about the working space for the human primates (staff and volunteers) at the sanctuary, so I snapped a couple of photos to show you so I can talk about some things that we’d really love to have.
We pride ourselves in taking good care of the chimps and giving them as much as we can on a modest budget, while always making improvements to the building and their lives. We are able to do this because we don’t give ourselves big salaries or buy fancy stuff, we rely on a terrific group of over thirty regular volunteers, and we get so much donated – from blankets to toys to produce to toilet paper (that last one is for the humans, in case you were wondering).
Most nonprofits earn a significant amount of their annual income in December, so we’ll soon be asking you to help us reach our year-end goals and we’ll have a special Chimp Cheer page on our website for those who give. If you would rather give gifts though, there are a few things we could use. Take a look at the photos below and visit our Amazon.com wishlist to see how you can put a smile on our faces.
Here’s a view of the kitchen area where we do all of the food prep for the chimps. Notice the worn floor mat and the lack of a coffee maker. We have a new kitchen mat on our wishlist. The carafe of our coffee maker broke a couple of months ago and I tried to do the most environmentally friendly thing by just replacing the carafe, but two ill-fitting carafes later and we still don’t have a working coffee maker. We don’t need anything fancy – I put a simple one on the wishlist. Or maybe you have a used one you’d like to donate? We don’t give caffeine to the chimps, but we’re okay with our own caffeine habits.
Here’s a view inside the fridge (and me waving to you in the reflection), which is on the other side of that ratty-looking mat. We wash all of the produce we get and then put it in bowls. I put a few more sets of bowls on the wishlist, trying to avoid the cheap plastic ones that break pretty quickly.
And here’s a view of the transition from the kitchen to the enrichment area (the shelves with all of the bins) and “office” (where the chairs are). Eventually it would be nice to have a larger freezer and another fridge, but we don’t have the room right now, so we make use of every possible storage space available.
Notice the precarious-looking pile of stuff next to the enrichment bins in the photo below. We could use a small shelving unit that fits so we can better take advantage of that space. I put a unit on the wishlist. We’d want the one that is 18″ deep x 24″ wide x 72″ tall.
Thanks to Jim Spencer, we have a lovely shed right outside the door. The shed stores enrichment too, and we switch out the bins once a week so the chimps’ toys don’t get too boring. We also keep some food, like nuts and dried fruit in the shed. We always welcome new bins! The specific ones we use are on the wishlist.
And here is the chimp house “office.” J.B. and I live in the house on the property and we’ve converted the master bedroom into additional office space (perhaps I’ll share those photos later), but this is where we make all of the videos and upload photos to the blog, among other things. The laptop we’re using is my old computer. The screen went out about a year ago, so we hooked it up to a monitor. We’ve been having some trouble with it and I’m afraid it doesn’t have much longer to live. We use iMovie to put our blog videos together, so we’d LOVE a new MacBook Pro with a screen that works. Not surprisingly, this is something you can get through Amazon.com too.
It’s difficult to see in this photo, but the small bin to the right above holds our cameras. I keep my Canon digital SLR camera here so we can get good shots of the chimps that we use for brochures, calendars, the website, etc. We have a basic canon PowerShot for video-taking (purchased for us last holiday season), which we all really like. Thinking about Young’s Hill, though, we’ll need something with a better zoom that takes higher-quality video. So, I’ve put an all-in-one Canon SLR camera with HD video capabilities on the wishlist. We can use our existing zoom lenses and get some amazing footage of the chimps on the hill.
There’s even more stuff on the wishlist and if you have any other ideas for gifts for the sanctuary and want to talk it over with someone, feel free to contact me or another staff member: [email protected] or 509-699-0728. Thanks!
Novelty
Captive chimpanzees are often cautious about changes in their environment. When we recently replaced the straw on the floor of the outdoor area with a deep layer of wood chips, we expected some of the chimps to be reluctant to walk on them. We were right about that, but I never would have guessed that Jamie would be nervous while Burrito would act like nothing had changed!
One of the reasons why we put the tractor tires out there in the first place is that ex-laboratory chimpanzees are often initially hesitant to walk on natural substrates. The tires allowed them to get outside with getting their feet dirty or wet. Of course, they all got used to it eventually, just as they will get used to the wood chips. But for some, especially Foxie, it may take a little while.
You can’t always get what you want
Burrito and Foxie are great friends, but sometimes friends just aren’t in the mood to play when you are.