This guy.
Burrito
How time flies
I was just telling JB yesterday, I can’t believe it is just two weeks away from our six year anniversary! Wow. How is it almost half-way through 2014 already? Well the saying rings true here at the sanctuary—how time flies when you’re having fun. 🙂
Perhaps it’s on my mind because we’re going to start doing 100 Happy Days next week, but I’ve been thinking about all the really great memories from the last six years! I’m curious what YOUR favorite happy moments are. Comment here with your most favorite memory (and if you have it bookmarked already, give us the link to the blog post about it, so new readers can look back with us!)
Here’s some photos I found from this month that hadn’t been posted before, of the seven amazing chimpanzees we’ve had the pleasure of caring for during the last six years.
I’m looking forward to hearing what your favorite happy moments are!
Grooming up close
I was playing tug of war with Burrito in the greenhouse the other day when Negra approached and sat herself down in front of Burrito, waiting to be groomed. Burrito took the hint. Be sure to turn your volume up to hear Burrito’s tooth clacking, lip smacking, and Bronx cheers.
Friendships
It’s Friend Friday! Okay, well, we may have made that up last week—but it turns out that it actually is a thing! So, we thought we’d keep the trend going and post about some friendships today.
This morning I got a video of rambunctious play between Foxie, Diana, and Burrito. At one point, Burrito turned toward Foxie and they started to play with each other. This is really important for their bonding, and we as caregivers tend to take a step back and let them play on their own. You’ll see in the video that Diana did just that. Later on, Jody joined in too, and started to play tug with Foxie. Foxie looked toward Diana to keep playing with her, but Jody was so insistent that Foxie play with her that Diana encouraged Foxie to direct her attention back to Jody.
This is a little bit longer than the videos I usually post, but the whole thing was so great I had a hard time cutting anything out. Enjoy, and please share on social media with the hashtag #FriendFriday!
Photos from today and Negra’s Journey
Check out this post on One Green Planet we posted today about Negra. It’s truly a wonderful story and we’d love it if you would share it on social media, or just forward the link to your friends!
Here’s some pictures I took today — the weather is absolutely gorgeous so we set up a quick lunch forage for the chimps to enjoy!
Foxie:
Burrito:
Jamie checking out some welding work J.B. was doing down at the caregiver house:
And then she took her pile inside to enjoy and let me snap this nice head shot of her:
Today is in memory of Norman A. Johnson
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Paula Nelson in memory of her father, Norman A. Johnson. Paula shared this lovely message about her father:
“My father passed away a year ago on May 9th. I wanted to honor his memory. He so enjoyed watching the videos and pictures of all the chimps. We had family in Cle Elum so that made it special for our family. I know he is smiling down still enjoying them. Love you Daddy.”
Paula, we are so touched that you thought of the chimpanzees when honoring the memory of your father. It makes us happy to know that they brought such joy to his life. Thank you so much for giving them a special day and our thoughts are with you and your family.
A busy day for Jamie
The sanctuary is a hub of activity today! Well, at least for the humans and Jamie Chimpanzee. Keith and Nick are still working hard on the sprinkler system. Volunteer caregiver Denice came out to work in the chimpanzees’ garden and brought along her husband, Ken, who in turn brought his backhoe to help J.B. prepare to make way for some sidewalks!
It also happens to be on the warm side today with temperatures in the upper 80’s. None of the primates here at CSNW have quite adjusted to the sudden spike in temperatures and the chimpanzees have spent much of the day splayed out in the greenhouse. Judging by Burrito, one would think it was closer to 100 degrees:
Ssooooo hot:
Why is it SO hot?!
Well, all of the chimpanzees were splayed out except Jamie, that is. After all, she is the boss and had a lot of people and projects to supervise. A popular spot from which to keep an eye on everyone was one of the windows in the front rooms and here sat Jamie, with her trusty boot in hand:
Feeling revived from a refreshing treat of carrot juice ice cubes, Burrito decided to check out the activities from the cooler front rooms as well:
It never ceases to amaze me how people come together in such selfless ways to improve the lives of the chimpanzees. Keith, Nick, Denice and Ken, (and J.B.!) thank you so much for working so hard, in the heat of this day, to make the chimpanzees’ home even better! And thank you especially for enriching Jamie’s day! And thank you to everyone who helped make this work possible, we couldn’t do it without all of our amazing supporters.