A big ole’ heat wave is coming to Cle Elum this week and although today wasn’t the hottest of the hot upcoming days, it is still a *very* warm 92 degrees Fahrenheit. On days like this, afternoons tend to be a little quieter as the chimps find cool spots to relax throughout the chimp house. A wonderful thing about the Pacific Northwest, though, is that nights and mornings tend to be a good deal cooler than the afternoons. This means that, in the morning, Jamie’s group still gets to enjoy Young’s Hill and Cy’s group is frequently inviting caregivers to play chase throughout the greenhouses!
In the afternoons, we work to provide the chimps enrichment to keep them cool – and today we made snow-cone-boats for everyone! Check out the photos below to see how they enjoyed it.
This morning, Annie and Missy enjoyed a bit of morning climbing on Carlene’s Tower.
Annie inspecting some tall grass out on Young’s Hill in the morning glow of sunshine.
While everyone went out to explore the hill, Negra opted to hang back and watch (ahem, nap).
Negra and Foxie enjoying a post-breakfast relaxation session in the greenhouse.
Foxie was all about a slow motion game of pass-the-troll-through-the-caging, before she took them back for a cuddle.
Cut to the afternoon – cleaning is complete, lunch has been had, and it’s time for some cooling enrichment! We took shaved ice and added in a drizzle of Grape Juice and a few freshly harvested raspberries and currants, courtesy of our abundant garden outside of the kitchen.
Everyone was super excited! It’s tough to snag photos of the chimps with the snow cone boats, since they eat them so quickly, but I took a few mediocre ones with my phone to share. 🙂
Annie:
Cy:
Dora:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Terry:
I also wanted to make a quick shout out- we can’t express how amazing our volunteers and supporters are, no words could ever do it justice. And today I wanted to send a thank you to volunteer Patti for her surprise delivery of vegan ice cream sandwiches for the staff and a box fan for the chimps! Thank you!!