Kelsi

Happy Birthday to our Queen Negra!

June 13, 2020 by Kelsi

To know Negra is a true honor. She is unapologetically herself. To know who you are is a very important life skill. To have the ability to express yourself is also very important. Negra’s life has not been easy. However, Negra is a chimp who knows how she likes things and what she wants. Negra knows she loves pine-coco juice, lettuce, and chow. Negra as many of us know is the queen of comfort, she loves to make people dance for her, and when she wants to play she is not afraid to initiate it. When she feels like it, she gives the best kisses. Negra also gets to make those choices. She gets to choose where and how to make her nest, if she wants to go out on Young’s Hill, and she gets to express herself how she chooses. If Negra feels annoyed with her caregivers she can show her feelings, and trust us Negra is not afraid of holding back :).

June 13th, 2008 changed many lives. Most importantly everyday for 12 years seven chimps’ lives have gotten better each and everyday. And seven chimps became ten chimps. While our family may be growing, our visions and goals as a sanctuary have not. As Leslie Knope once asked in a TV show called Parks and Rec, “Are you better off now than you were a year ago?”. The answer is ABSOLUTELY and Negra is the perfect example of that. Happy Birthday to our Queen Negra. You are so very special to us.

If you missed the The Queen’s Brunch today you can still donate on our auction page. There are still a few second chance items left. Don’t miss out!

The Queen laying on her throne.

We had a huge forage out on Young’s Hill for lunch. Jody had arms full of cattails and a mouth full of roses. She also scored a big chunk of coconut. However, Jody got a little distracted near Negra. Negra looked over and to her dismay there was an abandoned coconut! Negra looked to be the happiest person in the world!

Negra with the coconut.

Missy zipped around the whole forage. I literally never saw her walking.

Jamie with arms and a foot full of lettuce.

Bubba enjoying his peppers.

Negra loving her lettuce too.

We hope you all had as much fun with the virtual auction and brunch as we did! I will leave you with these two images of Negra.

An Xtratuf Book

June 3, 2020 by Kelsi

Jamie loves books. She enjoys flipping through anything from larger bodied apes, to architecture, to a national geographic about mummies, a classic cowboy boot book, and her new favorite Xtratuf boot book. It has all of her favorite boots in one book! The book idea came about when Jamie’s love for Xtratuf boots happened. As many of you know, the chimps can’t have our cleaning boots because they are made of rubber, which they will sometimes eat. At night we always offer Jamie a pair, or two, or three of her favorite boots or a book before we lock up and leave for the night. Every night instead she would need to groom her favorite Xtratuf boots before bed. These grooming sessions could last anywhere from 25-40 minutes or forever in Jamie’s mind :). Some nights grooming was never enough. As a caregiver, you never want to leave until all the chimps are content. It can be very distressing to see someone like Jamie knowing she wants something she can’t have and then having to say sorry but know she is unhappy when you leave, even if you leave her with another favorite pair of boots she can have. I decided maybe if we made a book off something like, Shutterfly with everyone wearing their Xtratuf boots, maybe that would help her at night!

Well, what I didn’t know was how much she would love it. I knew she would like it, but if you read Katelyn’s blog on Monday, it was very apparent she approved of the book. And that the book evolved into her being able to communicate which boots she wanted right in that moment! On Saturday when I gave Jamie the book, I barely got to page two before she was pilo and running over gesturing for the book! Jamie took the book into the Playroom with a low groan of approval and quietly started flipped through the book. It felt like Jamie was saying, finally!

I only purchased one book because I had no idea how she would respond to it. Sometimes we humans get so excited to give the chimps something. We think “oh Jamie is going to love this” or “Jody is definitely going to use this” and then it’s a flop. Chimps are funny that way. While Anna and I were cleaning the other day we were thinking of different ideas like making a blanket with the boot pictures, or a pillow, or a new book with current and old volunteers shoes that she loved! Now, of course these could all be flops too, but you have to try to find out! If anyone would like to find out, I have put a Shutterfly gift card on the wish list so we can get another 2 or 4 copies of this book for Jamie. Or so we can make a new book for her!

Jamie nesting with the book.

Today I found her book with some pages bookmarked. This could be by chance. But, if we know Jamie she was probably folding those piece over to come back too.

This photo was taken pre-Xtratuf boot book! The other night Diana and I could not figure out what boots Jamie wanted to look at. So we brought her collection out. It turned out later she wanted completely different boots, but she had fun looking.

This book is now always an arms reach away from her.

Jamie up close grooming.

Don’t forget about The Queen’s Brunch. The online auction is going on now! I have been bidding on the Negra painting and keep getting out bid and I am currently in a bidding war for a beautiful Jody colored pencil drawing. Look out for me 😉 Please join us live on Facebook, June 13th for the brunch, it’s going to be so much fun. We hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday Mave!

May 27, 2020 by Kelsi

Mave, Mave-y, MAVIS! Today Mave turned 31. We celebrated Mave by having a nice laid back party, just like her. We were so excited to throw our first ever Mave birthday party! As many of you know if you have been following the blog, Mave has been the best surprise. We didn’t know much about her when she arrived at the sanctuary. Mave is a loyal friend, a peace keeper – always need one of those in a friend group, she can be very easy going, she is silly and playful when she wants to be, but Mave has her serious moments too. Mave really seems to love grooming her friends, she is often found wearing socks, and you can find her napping in the chute or mezzanine or anywhere there is some warm sun. She is a California girl.

What was on the Menu, you ask? Well for breakfast she had some of her favorites smoothie, pineapple, banana, peanuts, and chow. For lunch Mave enjoyed some freshly cracked coconut, carrots, avocados, cherries, and a tasty piña colada, virgin of course! Mave loved the freshly cracked coconut!! Once caregiver Anthony served her the coconut she had the most happy and content sounding food grunts. I would say she was very pleased. The seven also celebrated Mave with a Young’s Hill and green House forage. They too enjoyed some virgin piña coladas on this nice warm day! For dinner all ten chimps enjoyed lettuce, beets, watermelon, and sweet potatoes.

Mave spent most of her day hanging out in the chute grooming with her friends Willy B and Honey B. We put all the socks CSNW has into her enrichment today. The floors were covered in socks!

Mave has the best face, I am just going to say it! Every chimp I have met has the best face, but for different reasons. I say this about Mave’s face because of her unique features. Margaret H. Parkinson illustrated a breathtaking oil canvas painting of Mave for the online auction, as Diana has mentioned on her blog! If you don’t want to miss out on all the fun, register for The Queen’s Brunch virtual celebration and online auction! And make sure to tune in our Facebook June 13th for our live stream brunch!

Mave was pretty busy and not particularly interested in having her photos taken today. I did manage to get some photos of Mave eating her birthday coconut!

Oh my! Coconut!

Caregiver Chad had a few photos to share of Mave wearing socks. She seems to be enjoying the fruit style socks currently!

Missy enjoying her piña colada!

Foxie enjoy the forage. Foxie lovessss avocados!

Cheers Mave! We are truly the lucking ones to have you in our lives!

Negra can Play!

May 20, 2020 by Kelsi

If you follow the blog regularly, you will know Negra’s favorite hobbies are making nests and napping. Now some of you are nodding your heads and you’re thinking same Negra, same. What you might not know about Negra is that when she does decide to play, Negra is known to play rough! That may shock some of you, but she doesn’t go easy on anyone. For the past couple of weeks right before the seven are about to go back into their freshly clean Playroom Negra gets downright silly. As you will see in the video she has a very loose lower lip, meaning she is relaxed and you can hear her breathy panting, which is like a laugh. It could be that she is excited for the lettuce forage in the Playroom, maybe it’s the spring weather, and it could be a little bit of everything. We will never know for sure, but man watching Neggie play is the best!

I am sorry to say I only have videos of Neggie and no photos. So, I hope you all are okay with some pictures of Burrito!

Happy

May 13, 2020 by Kelsi

Last Wednesday Jamie wanted to stay out. She waited for me finish the blog. Really, she had been waiting all day. It had been pouring down rain almost all day. Or so windy it could blow you over. By the time the staff meeting was finished and the blog was done, I found her out in the Green House. The rain had subsided for the moment. She glanced over and burst into a full sprint onto the Hill. We sprinted clockwise, counter clockwise, up, down, and all around. In our sprints I would look over at Jamie, she looked happy. It started to rain again, but a little rain or mist has never stopped Jamie before. 😉

It is what felt like a true moment of happiness, cheesy, I know. In that moment it also felt like a true expression of freedom. She chose to stay out late, she got to let her guard down, and she seemed very content.

Jamie running in the rain:

Me trying to capture the moment, the look of happiness and content on her face. However, I missed it by a second because it was time to run again! *Jamie is the only person I will take a selfie with.*

The stormy view:

And the not so stormy view. It changes in the blink of an eye in Washington.

Grooming in between:

Look at that focus:

Jamie’s view today:

Bonus photos of Nutmeg!

What Entails a Walk?

May 6, 2020 by Kelsi

Before I get to the blog. I just have to say WOW! Thank you to everyone who has donated to Giving Tuesday and Give Big. Our original goal was $25,000 and you all have helped us exceed our goal!! We have raised over $36,720 so far as I write this. Give Big is still going until the end of today, if anyone is looking to help just click on Give Big! This has been a scary time and a lot of unknown for us and we just want to give you the biggest thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

This blog may seem to have no theme today. With a video about walking and wonderfully random chimp photos. But, there are a lot of fun and different interactions that happened today. The chimps have a different enrichment theme everyday, today’s theme was soapy buckets. You all can already assume Honey B partook, and you would be right! However, Foxie had a bucket to herself and Jody and Burrito shared a bucket together. Honey B was wearing a great 70s style sweatband. Negra and Burrito had a huge play session. Missy put her foot in a sweater while Jody playfully tugged on it. Annie had the sweater in her mouth and Missy played tug-of-war. Though the weather wasn’t great and there were 20 mile an hour winds, Willy B still managed to run out onto the boardwalk a few times! And the list goes on and on!

Sadly, I did not get photos or videos of all of those things! But, I hope you enjoy these photos.

Foxie:

Honey B:

Honey B was washing her buckets and transferring water from one bucket to the other.

Willy B snagging some apples and braving the wind:

Tomorrow he will go on that platform. I can feel it!

Also Honey B’s sweet toes:

If you look closely you can see the sweatband. I love the way she is sitting on the railing.

Honey B:

Jamie grooming her favorite XTRATUF boots:

Wednesdays

April 29, 2020 by Kelsi

Wednesdays are kind of crazy days. Between cleaning, serving meals, walking with Jamie, feeding cattle, making sure the daily tasks are done, and it being a day we usually have our staff meeting. It’s a pretty packed day! However, for the chimps their Wednesdays are pretty relaxed. Especially today! For lunch the 7 enjoyed a forage on Young’s Hill. In the afternoon, Jamie and I were on a leisurely stroll and it seemed like everyone was out peacefully enjoying the Hill. As for the 3 they did have a chance to go onto the Hill, but no takers yet, one day! Honey B, Mave, and Willy B did enjoy their day grooming, playing chase with friends, and enjoying the warm spring air in the chute. This is my long apology for the blog being posted so late 🙂 Please enjoy these photos of the chimps!

In the morning everyone rushed out on to Young’s Hill, Negra included! The grass is so green it almost looks photo-shopped.

Negra: