Let me first begin by wishing Happy Birthday to all our February celebrating friends!
It feels like a big month for some reason. Waking up to February and suddenly finding ourselves halfway through winter and spring (or summer and autumn, as the case may be). Maybe the tiniest bit of change feels more pronounced right now. Chimpanzees and cattle (and humans!) basking in the first sighting of the sun in these mountains in a good long while, the last full magical month of winter, the cartwheel of life a partial turn closer to spring. The rich cultural heritage and contributions celebrated with Black History Month, the new lunar year welcoming the Year of the Tiger, and the kaleidoscopic wonder and creativity of Carnival season in full swing. Valentine’s Day (and another chimp house party!) on the horizon. My orchids wildly blooming. 🙂 Who knows? So many opportunities for our hearts to beat right along with whatever stirs and inspires them.
So how apropos that all of you celebrating a birthday in this big month get to share it with this big guy, Nutmeg Steer, who is turning 7 years old on February 10th! This wonderful, huge, currently very floofy guy, who loves his mama, Betsy, so very much (and very much vice versa). He might be at least twice her size (see below), but he is still, and forever, her baby cow. Well, baby steer.
This tiny herd brings an awful lot of joy to our days at the sanctuary as we watch them going about their bovine business. And many thanks to all of you, including the Bovine Buddies, who make such a life possible for this sweet family. It isn’t one many bovines get to experience and we are so grateful to you. Be sure to tune in for Nutmeg’s celebration on the 10th!
Honey, Betsy, Nutmeg and Meredith:
Whomever, whatever, and however you choose to celebrate this month, or not, I dare you to do so by sporting something akin to the enviable Nutmeg coif:
From all of us here at the sanctuary, we hope your hearts and minds are stirred by whatever little (or big) lift of inspiration or beauty they might need or come across this month. Be it a winter day, a warm patch of sun, a wild celebration, or all the wonder you make possible in the lives of sixteen chimpanzees and four bovines who call a tiny, but every growing Washington sanctuary, home.
Jody:
Honey B (Mave in the background):
Dora:
And please enjoy these photos of some of the beautiful chimp people in the light-filled chimp house today which were captured by Chad!
Jody:
Negra with that wonderful relaxed lip:
Sweet Lucky enjoying the heights of her group’s sunny greenhouse du jour:
Gordo, below, mid-hoot:
Willy B, across the way, surrounded by sunlight:
Honey B enjoying a kale forage:
DIANE KASTEL says
Thank you so very much, Katelyn, for cheering me up, as a Chicagoan, that we are entering the, last, full month of winter! Thank you for recognizing that this is the “Year of the Tiger”, and, especially, for the close up photos of Nutmeg!
tom austin says
It is like they know what is coming…..a sixth sense………
Tobin says
What absolutely beautiful photographs! Or, rather, what absolutely beautiful, fascinating, endearing cattlepeople and chimpsters are featured in the photographs. And, on this eve of GroundApe’s Day, that picture of Neggie is most intriguing: with her bottom lip hanging loose, does her facial expression portend if she will or will not see her shadow tomorrow morning when ( she stirs from her nest of blankets? The suspicion builds! As a meteorological oracle, Punxatawney Phil ain’t got nothin’ on our Pacific Northwest Neggie.
Magda Ashtok says
Katelyn, you raise a high bar with the Nutmeg hairdo hair chalenge. But, I’ll do my best!!!
Jeff says
This should be the year of the Chimps. lets bring some more home!!
Tobin says
If there is a Year of the Ox, why not a Year of the Chimpanzee. I so very much prefer that to the Year of the Snakes that Burrito had to endure over the past two summer.
Marya says
Ohhhhh, I just want to wrap my arms around those bovine necks and snuggle with them! And run my fingers through their curly coifs! Those sweet faces and soft eyes are so endearing and I’m so happy they have a lovely home with lots of great hay, winter digs to snuggle up in for warmth and people who adore them so much. I would race there to muck if it was allowed (someday, maybe). And those chimp people with their wondrous expressions! I may sound very dramatic about all of this today (well, maybe lots of days), but amidst the various forms of turmoil in the world for me the height of every day is the sanctuary and all of its beings including the human primates caring for all of it as well as everyone in blog-land. Truly, folks, the word “gratitude” doesn’t begin to capture it. Thank you!
Paulette says
“amidst the various forms of turmoil in the world for me the height of every day is the sanctuary and all of its beings including the human primates caring for all of it as well as everyone in blog-land. Truly, folks, the word “gratitude” doesn’t begin to capture it. Thank you!”
Ditto! Truly!
Pamela says
Well said!
Kathleen says
Katelyn, you’ve made February sound like the best month of the year. Countless things to celebrate and enjoy, especially Nutmeg’s 7th Birthday! Happy Birhtday to the February celebrators. And thank you Katelyn for these photos, a great way to kick off February.
CeeCee says
Happy February! great pic’s today, Thanks Katelyn.
Nutmegs Do reminds me of a 50’s rocker,
like Elvis when he really got girating around, and his hair would flip forward.:smiley_cat:
Kim Harris says
I would love to have Nutmeg’s thick curls! How fortunate this little herd is to be able to just be bovines and no longer be burdened by human expectations. Nutmeg and Betsy’s love for each other is especially heartwarming as I as staying with my son and daughter-in-law while I rehab after rotator cuff surgery. He’s my only child and I can’t imagine not having him nearby.
I learned of CSNW a couple of years ago from one of your videos on YouTube popping up during one of my many primate searches. That video led me to the blog, watching all of the previous videos, and coming to know and adore each chimp individually. When I first started learning about them and their personalities, I couldn’t always tell which chimp was in a pic. But now that I’ve come to know them from afar, I can see their personalities in each pic. I can see the wheels turning in Honey B’s head, the sweetness in Dora’s face, and Neggie being Neggie. Seeing a group of primates that I’m not familiar with, I see their commonalities. But I only see each wonderful individual in this amazing group of 16. Seeing each day’s blog is the best way to relax each evening. Thank you for all that all of you do to make their lives the best they can be and for sharing with all of us.
Linda C says
Every day that I see Neggie up and about and waiting in the portrait studio for breakfast or lunch, I give a little cheer!
In some country (I think it’s Iceland), they celebrate the advent of longer days with pancakes. While I’m not much of a pancake person, I totally get making a cold day more special with sunshine and yummy carbs!
We were gray here today, but sunny Sunday, when I shoveled out, and Monday, so I was grateful for that boost to my mood as I shoveled!
Good to see that almost all of your snow has melted, even though I know that that means more special orders for Burrito and Missy. But I know you guys are up for the challenge!