Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest has held several online auctions over the last few years, filled with fun items to bid on. Some of the coolest and most popular items have been donated by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day (this year he gave a personally-signed guitar to the Summer Biddin’ online auction).
The Armstrong family has been following the lives of the Cle Elum Seven for a while (proving something that doesn’t need proof: Burrito is irresistible), and Billie Joe’s wife Adrienne, who also owns Atomic Garden in Oakland, and her sister-in-law Jessy have visited the sanctuary a few times – always wanting to directly help out while they are here!
This past weekend, Adrienne, Jessy, Billie Joe, and Jessy’s husband / Adrienne’s brother Steve, owner of Familia Skateshop in Minnesota, all came out for a visit and to lend a hand. Susan Holmes McKagan, Billie Joe and Adrienne’s friend and model, fashion designer, and wife to bassist Duff McKagan also came out for the afternoon on Saturday.
We learned a few things over the two days they were here, including the fact that chimpanzees love Billie Joe. Jamie was extremely excited when he was willing to run with her around the hill, and invited him to do so several times. She didn’t even insist on him wearing cowboy boots:
And a few of the chimps listened while he played an acoustic guitar. Here’s Negra lending an ear:
Adrienne brought some rare brown-haired troll dolls, which Foxie immediately adopted
and brought on a walk around the hill with Adrienne and Susan:
The main task for the weekend was putting up a new structure on the hill that consisted of two tall log posts and a few metal bars that were to be installed between them for the chimps to climb on and swing from.
Not surprisingly, Jamie and Missy were the first to inspect and play on the structure after a forage was put out for everyone to enjoy:
The chimps didn’t have all the fun, though. The humans did a little “chimping around” during their breaks from manual labor:
The new bar structure is really neat, and there’s no doubt that the chimpanzees are going to enjoy it, but I was equally excited that Adrienne and Jessy got the holiday tree from last year planted on the hill:
The tree has been living in a pot in the greenhouse since last December, and the chimps, especially Jody, have been periodically snacking on it:
I’m really curious how that little bedraggled tree will do on the hill – I have high hopes!
As a well-deserved thank you for all the Armstrongs have done for the chimpanzees, both this weekend and in the past with their donations, they got to watch the chimpanzees enjoy the fruits of their labor from the observation deck looking out onto Young’s Hill:
What an awesome weekend for everyone!
