As you may have seen on the blog over the past couple of days, we’ve begun 1:1 “playdates” between Burrito and the girls. Burrito feels that he is absolutely ready to be out of his recovery rooms and back with the six girls. I absolutely do not blame him. He’s had a long, tough road and he’s handled it better than anyone could ask of him. His foot, however, says otherwise and we want to make sure the stubborn infection hanging on is resolved before he returns to the group. He’s oh so close. Other than that Burrito is more fully Burrito with each passing day and to say that is a profound and joyful relief is an understatement.
Burrito and Foxie are really close friends and they haven’t been together in a long time with the exception of meetings at the mesh. I’d hoped that Foxie would be interested in joining him for a visit today. She was, but Foxie is also leery of unfamiliar things and routines so she opted not to come in at first. Jamie though, ran right in, naturally. But after awhile Jamie decided she had more pressing business to attend to (Willy B was in the chute outside the playroom and all the girls were screaming like they’d seen a rock star). I figured that was it for visits for the day, but much to my surprise and delight, Foxie ran in to replace her!
When I opened the door separating her and Burrito, well, OH. MY. HEART! They both screamed, Burrito held his arms out and Foxie ran right into them. They were inseparable! Hugging, hanging onto one another, grooming, softly “hooing” to one another, holding hands. Two old friends together again. Foxie’s the best medicine.
A note on that hand. Yes, I imagine it looks pretty bad from where you’re sitting, but trust me, it looks absolutely fantastic compared to what it was and is healing beautifully so don’t let it alarm you.
And a couple of bonus Annie photos! We’ve had a particularly wintry season so far with a fair amount of snow and lots of freezing fog. But today was sunny, bright blue and coooollldd! But that didn’t stop the girls from ripping and running and climbing all over Young’s Hill. Checking tire swings for ice treats, eating snow and I suspect, just feeling the pure relief of sunshine. Annie is often the one we find braving the coldest of temperatures at the very top of a structure, just taking it all in in solitude. And today was no different.
And double bonus! I was scurrying in and out of Phase 1 where Mave, Honey B and Willy B reside trying to figure something out with the heating and had to rudely keep turning the lights on as they’d gone to bed for the night. I happened to glance over on my way out and saw Mave in her amazing nest!
Goodnight, folks. May you all be as warm, safe, and cozy this cold wintry night as beloved Mave.
Well, *I * would feel better after some Foxie time, lol!
Yet, a couple of those photos, where she’s staring straight at the camera, while her long fingernails go over Mr. B’s hand, almost give her a sinister look.
Still saddened that the girls can’t see Willy B and Mave can’t have more friends….I sure hope you can swing some play dates between groups in the future.
I love reading about the chimps..also seeing pictures
They look so huggable
Burrito’s hand looks a tad better than yesterday. Slowly, I trust, he is on the mend.
What a wonderful, happy post with wonderful, loving photos!
Great post, Katelyn! So sweet with Foxie and Burrito getting together. Thank you!
What a beautiful update Katelyn. So glad Burrito and Foxie had such a wonderful reunion. Yes Burrito’s hand does look bad but I will take comfort in your words that it is getting better. Wonderful pictures. Thank you and love and hugs to you all.
Katelyn, your description of the Burrito / Foxie reunion was absolutely heartwarming. So glad Foxie worked up her courage to make it happen. It made my evening. Thanks for the photos of sweet Annie on her perch.
Also, looks like Mave needs many, many blankets to keep warm and cozy. Let us know if you need another infusion as my fabric store keeps putting fleece on sale
I saw some cute ones at 5 below the other day and almost went rogue….:)
Loved the beautiful pictures. So happy that Mr. B is coming along. He is such a sweetheart! It was wonderful to see Mr. B and Foxie enjoying time together. There is nothing like the love of a friend.
How heartwarming to hear about such a wonderful reunion ??
Oh Katelyn, what these photos did for my spirits too! Little Foxie is good medicine for all of us. I am not sure what I love most about the Burrito & Foxie photos, the beauty of their entwined hands or the bookend cropped ears. And Annie looks amazing on the top of the structure, small in the landscape but Queen of all she can see. And Mave, sigh, the Princess and the Pea.
I am beginning to think that maybe it is not the weather, or the grass, or the great outdoors that keeps Willy B safely tucked inside all the time, it’s the screaming fan club he is trying to avoid!! LOL
Sweet dreams everyone……
Thanks Kathleen for cracking me up & bringing back long forgotten memories…
Believe it or not, once upon a time I was actually a “girl”, (HaHaHa) when I may have or maybe not have screamed (perhaps I at least jumped up & down (in the rain) when my 6th grade groupie (classmate) friends & I went to our first concert, & I saw my dream crush rockstar..Mickey Dolenz, of the “Hey Hey we’re The Monkees” fame…LOLOL…It was so much fun for us little girls…I can’t believe I remembered this small detail…My Mom told, Mrs. Hall, (our chaperone) to make sure I kept my headscarf on so I wouldn’t catch cold from the rain… : ) (I used to always pull those ugly scarves off (tied under my chin) as we got out of Mom’s sight, & stuffed them into a pocket…(It didn’t help much that I had bright red curly hair & wore blue cat eye glasses & a black patch over one side…OhMyGosh…such memories after all these years…
Poor Willy B needs headphones or earplugs to drown out his screaming fan club…What is it with “girls” & the “new boys” in class?” (I’m giggling) I also loved the photos & sweet blog today…I’m still smiling…
“Ladies, ladies, no autographs, please…”
What a wonderful Blog post and pictures. Loved the reunion photos and Mave.
Lovely post, Katelyn .. heartwarming and reassuring. I had been wondering why we hadn’t seen Foxie visiting with Burrito, so I’m very happy you captured that today.
Hope the caregivers are remembering to keep themselves as warm as their 10 charges.
Delightful story of Burrito and Foxie Lady’s reunion! Thanks for the blow-by-blow of the greeting! “Willy B sitting in the shoot” comment made me realize, I haven’t heard if the 3 new comers been outside on youngs hill yet!? I may have missed a blog posting or two stating they had?!?! If they have, can someone share the name of post and date for I would love to read about it! Thanks!!
Not yet. They just saw their 1st know a couple of days ago. They don’t know what to think of it. Only Honey B would go out into the shoot when it was snowing. We’re all dying for it to happen
Hi Nancy,
Mave, Honey B and Willy B have actually been on Young’s Hill, but unfortunately, it didn’t go so well for them as they touched the fence several times getting shocked and of course, got frightened. They’ve had access to Young’s Hill several times since and now have daily access to their new “courtyard” that the chute leads to, but they’ve not yet chosen to leave the comfort and familiarity of the chute again yet. This can be common for captive chimps and I can imagine how wide open spaces would be scary for them. They’ll get there in their own time. 🙂
Heartwarming description of Foxie and Burrito running to each others arms. And the pictures of them snuggling together … so sweet. So glad they were finally reunited.
Ahhh… that made my day reading about this.
Glorious post.. and pics.. touching, heartwarming and inspirational… all three scenes, Bubba & Foxie, Annie and Have… all very different aspects of what it means to be in sanctuary at CSNW. Thank you Katelyn! 🙂