It may be too cold to go out on the hill, but it’s never too cold to talk about how cute Burrito is when he’s out there.
Archives for November 2011
Snow day
Although snow is really tasty, it’s getting pretty cold in Cle Elum so the chimps are happy to stay warm in the greenhouse.
Sometimes, though, snow is just good enough to risk getting a little cold to reach for it.
iEnrich
Today is sort of rainy out, so we wanted to enrich the chimpanzees with some indoor activity. Sometimes we play the TV for them, which some folks seem to really enjoy. We also know that the chimps like to watch themselves in mirrors, so I thought they might be interested in “Photo Booth,” which is an App on the iPad (and it’s also on most Mac computers) where you can take pictures of yourself. Foxie and Burrito seemed to think it was pretty cool, and I’m glad we were able to come up with some fun rainy day enrichment.
First snow on Young’s Hill
The video below says it all, but I had to include this photo of Burrito too:
Run, Missy, Run!
One of my favorite things so far about Young’s Hill is watching Missy run at full speed. She is like a spring that was coiled up for decades, just waiting to be released. Every time she goes outside, she runs up and down the hill, for no apparent reason other than for the joy of it.
I was surprised by how moved I was when I first noticed that I could actually hear her running…the sound of her hands and feet pounding the ground and her heavy, rhythmic breathing with each stride.
We were talking today about how it seems like Missy is eager for the other chimps to become as comfortable as she is on the hill so that she will have someone to play with out there. Many of the other chimps are still in the cautious exploration stage, but not Missy. She waited 36 years for a chance to run, and now she’s ready for the most epic game of chase ever.
Lip Balm poll
I posted a little poll on Facebook yesterday asking what we should do about re-ordering lip balm. With the holidays coming, I’m stocking up on merchandise, and we have only 10 Burrito Pom Balms left!
If you have a Facebook account, go there to vote. If not, leave a comment below with your opinion among these choices:
a) Get more pomegranate lip balm featuring a different chimpanzee
b) Something new: get spearmint lip balm featuring a different chimpanzee
c) Re-order the Burrito Pom Balm
d) Forget about it
Thanks!
Security
Foxie seems to be getting more and more comfortable on the hill each day. Today, I saw her climb up each of the climbing structures, including one that is fairly far away, and she even played a little bit of chase with Missy. She always has her trolls out there with her, though, which I think of as a security thing. She often lets them ride on her back while she walks around to explore, but as you’ll see below, sometimes there just isn’t enough room for all those “babies” on her back.
