Happy Birthday to the incomparable Honey B, who always keeps us on our toes!
birthday party
Rayne’s 36th Birthday Party!
Rayne loves smoothie and other fruity drinks, grapes, cherry tomatoes, small purple potatoes and picture books, so that’s just what she got for her birthday! Happy birthday to our beloved friend!
Missy’s 49th Birthday!
Today is Missy’s 49th Birthday!
Unlike previous birthdays for Missy, today was chilly and rainy. However, that didn’t stop the chimps from foraging out on Young’s Hill!
If you aren’t familiar with Missy’s interests, she is our tomato enthusiast. She had at least one form of tomato for each meal so far today. As we speak, caregiver Ellen is making a tomato-based soup for all the chimps to enjoy at dinner. I know Missy will be over the moon!
Happy Birthday to our tomato-lovin’, tree-climbin’, athletic, graceful, birthday girl, Missy! I can’t believe she is 49 years old today. She ages so gracefully.
Photos from today
Annie foraging:
Foxie climbing up a structure:
Foxie moving grass out of her way, but looks like she’s doing karate:
Jamie on top of a structure:
Missy and Annie sitting on the artificial termite mound:
Missy enjoying a juicy tomato:
Missy:
Negra:
Gordo’s 36th Birthday!
Today is Gordo’s 36th Birthday!
We celebrated by having a lunch forage of his favorite foods, including a fan favorite that we save for special events, mangoes! Along with the forage, we included small, individual smoothie cups because they’re one of Gordo’s favorite things. Caregiver Ellen also made an oatmeal based “cupcake” for the chimps (you’ll see them in the video) consisting of oatmeal, banana, peanut butter, chow dust, sugar-free vanilla pudding as frosting, with a raspberry on top! The chimps absolutely loved them.
Gordo is a special guy and we hope he had the best day! If you’re new to our blog, I wrote a blog back in February about Gordo’s personality and all of his unique quirks. I will link it here!
Gordo probably thought it was Christmas today with his party and all the boxes we gave him! Since July is a month full of celebrations, we are inviting you to celebrate by emptying our wish lists for Christmas in July!
We are excited to introduce two new wish lists to choose from. First, we have partnered with Jerrol’s, a family-owned shop that has been in nearby Ellensburg since 1947. Rolf and Jessical at Jerrol’s have helped us create a custom wish list that we will be adding more items to as we discover what we can source from them instead of Amazon, and they will deliver gifts right to our door at the sanctuary – how great is that?!
We were also just approved to have a Chewy wish list! We will be able to get some supplements and toys for the chimpanzees and cows directly from Chewy now.
We aren’t getting rid of our Amazon wish list entirely just yet, and we’ve added more items to that list too. Thank you to alert blog readers who have already purchased fun items from Amazon for Christmas in July. You all are the best!
Our hope is to empty all of those wish lists by the end of this month so we can stock up on some staples and treat the chimpanzees to new and fun food puzzles and toys. Thank you for being santas and helping us celebrate Christmas in July!
Happy Birthday Dora!
Today Dora turned 35 with her friends by her side! Staff and volunteers crafted a lovely forage of avocado “toast” (aka primate chow dust mixed with banana) and berry sorbet. The wild yellow roses that grow on the property made for beautiful and delicious garnishes.
On the other side of the building, Jamie’s group enjoyed a similar party.
Missy and her party plate:
Negra devoured the avocado and roses!
Annie found some bonus boomer ball enrichment on Young’s Hill:
Happy birthday to this incomparable chimpanzee spirit!
Go Gordo, It’s Your Birthday!
Many thanks to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring this day of sanctuary: “Sending happy birthday wishes to Gordo, Tom, Dan and David! Have the best day you guys!” Thank you so much Paulette for helping us celebrate Gordo on his special day!
Today is Gordo’s 35th birthday! We threw a big lunch celebration for both Gordo and Burrito’s groups. We started Gordo’s day with an extra large cup of smoothie, because that is hands down Gordo’s favorite thing in the world. To say he was excited would be an understatement. I am sure you are all dying to know what was on the menu for Gordo’s birthday! The forage consisted of some of Gordo’s favorite foods such as oatmeal cups topped with fresh berries, leeks, cherry tomatoes, corn, and more fresh berries.
I thought I would share a few of my favorite things about Gordo. Number one, I think this might be why all of us staff love him, because he is quirky! I love his pokey fingers and that he always sits in boxes (the novelty has not worn off). I adore his little smirk, he just always looks cheeky, it kind of fits his personality. As we have mentioned before, Gordo does come off aloof like he is uninterested in us humans. However, if you pay close attention, when he does want to play or interact he will do the most subtle little knock with his knuckles or he will ever so slightly tap his toe, not toes, just one toe. It’s like he is seeing if you are paying attention and if you are you are rewarded with the prize of playing chase with him. I love the way he lays at the end of the stairs on a hot summer day, looking like fell down them (he has not!). Emotionally, Gordo can be hard to read so it makes me admire how brave he is and extremely proud of how he has handled himself and embraced all of these new situations. We are so lucky to know him. Gordo is a one of a kind guy!
Now you can see why it may look concerning when Gordo lays by the stairs (again it’s just how he lays):
A Fistful of Pasta
One thing we learned a couple weeks ago on Burrito’s Birthday: Honey B absolutely LOVES pasta! Here’s a photo montage I saved and needed to share of her spaghetti hoard.
