A while back, one of our followers specifically requested a video of us greeting the chimpanzees in the morning.
Well, here it is.
I hope y’all appreciate the chimps’ enthusiasm as much as I do.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Moments with Jamie
I had approximately 25 ideas for a blog post today, from the flighty and frivolous to the deeply profound (at least in my head).
This video is neither. Or perhaps it is both.
As one of her caregivers for more than twelve years, I can tell you that some of the best days in the chimp house are when Jamie is in a good mood, which seems to be the case more and more lately.
Not all of the clips in the video were from today. The one from today is the opening clip with Jamie wearing a troll scarf;Â the others were moments with Jamie that I had recorded on my phone that I have been hanging onto.
Right now, while the other chimpanzees are eating the last scraps of dinner, working on their food puzzles (nuts in kongs tonight), and gathering up their blankets for their nests, Jamie is sitting in the doorway that goes out to Young’s Hill, the outdoor habitat.
She might be waiting for the rain to subside so that we can go on another walk, or maybe she’s just making sure I remember that she’s the one who runs this place.
I just love Jamie.
Neighborhood watch
Jamie called me into action this afternoon.
We needed to quickly get to the top of the hill to investigate and hopefully chase away our neighbors who had come by. Don’t they know we are in the middle of a pandemic?
Also, she brought along a carrot leftover from lunch.
Carrots aren’t at the top of of her vegetable list but she’s not always willing to give hers up. A funny side story about Jamie, she occasionally gives us back food she doesn’t want. She purposefully pushes it outside the caging, instead of dropping it so a group mate can easily grab it. Jamie can be *ahem*… a touch malevolent from time to time.
But back to the tale our nosy neighbors! Burrito and Missy briefly joined our investigative adventure.
And Jamie successfully surprised our neighbors a little bit, which must surely have been gratifying.
But in the end, all is well that ends with a friendly equine photo shoot.
As you are simultaneously stared at by a carrot toting chimpanzee.
Happy Birthday, Donna and Paula!
Donna Haggarty-Robbins sponsored today in honor of a double celebration with this really lovely message:
“Today is my sister Paula’s (Andrews) birthday and mine! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our birthdays (4 years apart) than to support the wonderful work you all are doing at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW. These retired and rescued medical research chimps deserve all the loving care the dedicated Sanctuary staff provides them, year round.”
Happiest of birthdays to you both, Donna and Paula! Thank you so much for your generous support and kind words. We’re so grateful for the love and abundance that surrounds the chimpanzees and their home. All of us hope you have a beautiful day!
Annie and Missy:
Jamie and Foxie:
Burrito and Jody:
Honey B and Mave:
Rainy Day Play and Birthdays
This blog was not quite what I had planned today. In my head, I thought I would talk about our infamous blanket shredder(s). As a person who tries to keep up on inventory in the chimp house, I’ve found that we can’t seem to catch up on blankets. So, if you have ever desired to purchase blankets for the chimps there are plenty on our wish list!
Then the blog was going to be all about Meredith, because it’s her birthday today! Happy birthday Meredith! To celebrate, caregiver Chad brought the cattle some willow tree branches and cob to go with their hay. But, Meredith and friends had other plans. The cattle just wanted hay, which they made very clear when they bombarded the gator! So, because Meredith only wanted to celebrate her day with hay and her three closest friends. I was able to capture some very silly chimps on a pretty rainy day.
In the video you will watch Jamie hanging upside down like a bat stomping around upside down and making one caregiver very out of breath (that would be me). Minutes before the seven were about to go back into their freshly clean playroom, Negra, Burrito, Jody, Foxie, and even Jamie joined in to play slap, bite, tickle, & toe grab! Now, it may look like they where playing rough with Negra. But I will warn you Negra created that term! Please enjoy the bloopers were Jody attempts to stab me with a tube and Foxie tries to poke the camera :).
Happy Birthday to the beautiful Meredith!
The First Fall Harvest
Happy Fall Equinox, everybody! Though today was the first day of fall, it still felt like summer. It was a pretty mild day with clear skies. With conditions like these, we are trying to capitalize on as many forages for the chimpanzees we can fit in before the colder weather starts to creep in.
On today’s menu were kale, sweet potatoes, carrots, and oranges.
Missy:
Annie:
Jody (the REAL Jody):
Negra:
Burrito:
Jamie:
Foxie:
After their forage, it was perfect weather and timing for naps and relaxing!
Jody resting while still nibbling on some of her greens from the forage.
Foxie about to nod off for an afternoon slumber.
On the other side of the building, the Three were treated to leeks for dinner.
Willy B:
Mave:
Honey B decided to take her food and run, literally. She demanded her portions (especially the leek) and ran into the Chute.
Summer’s last sigh
The end of summer. How can it be? I am an autumn person through and through. If there were nine months of autumn and one month each of winter, spring, and summer I would be pretty happy with that. But this year, no one I know, myself included, feels ready to let summer go.
Given the many days of Burrito’s recovery (now thankfully healed and returned to his family), followed by the many days of hazardous, smoke-filled air (now thankfully cleared away), we are all beside ourselves with gratitude at the sense of ease, joy and freedom we’ve been having this week. The chimpanzees’ have continued to enjoy lunch forages on Young’s Hill and we’ve all been basking in the final gifts of summer, each of us sighing along with summer’s last breath:
Jody holds her reign as “Farmer Jo”:
Negra enjoying her lunch with a view:
Foxie:
Burrito:
Jamie:
Annie:
Diana mentioned on Saturday how we’ve been anxiously awaiting the chimpanzees’ grapes to ripen and have finally been able to harvest these beauties. Can you believe these gorgeous things?!
I went out to harvest some for dinner, but Annie, Jody and Burrito insisted they should be served immediately, garden to belly:
Everyone squeezed (politely, somehow) into the raceway (the chute that gives the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill from the greenhouse) and lined up for their serving. Bunches of grapes aren’t the easiest things to serve through the caging so apologies for all the caging shots. But, their faces! A fleeting summertime gift.
Jo!! My favorite photo, look at her eyes! 🙂
Foxie:
Burrito’s tactic is just shoveling them in as fast as he can, naturally:
Missy and her sweet little runner’s legs:
(And fiddlesticks, I just realized that my photo of sweet Annie with her grape cluster didn’t take, and Negra chose to stay in her nest, though she did receive a few grapes via delivery).
Meanwhile, I could hear Willy B blowing raspberries from the other side of the grapevines, in the chute, where he and Honey B were anxiously waiting for their serving:
Honey B:
In the past couple of days that we’ve been harvesting the grapes we’ve learned that Mave in particular LOVES them. She chose to wait inside for hers and when I rounded the corner with them her hair was standing on end in sheer excitement (pilo-erect) making her glorious fluffy self even floofier! Here she is gazing adoringly at them:
Somehow the grape feast, being a hot ticket event, went off without a hitch. For the most part that is. Turns out the seven were not in a sharing mood and had a lot to say about the three partaking in the feast as well. That’s alright. I don’t like sharing, say, my cookies, so I get it. 😉
A bonus photo of Jamie enjoying her beloved boot book in her nest:
It’s been such a beautiful day. It’s nearly dark already and as I type this I hear geese flying overhead and the raspberry patch is a chorus of frog song – I suspect from the little guys I rescued and put in there earlier today. Betwixt and between. Wherever are you, and whichever season you happen to be saying farewell to in your part of the world in welcome of the next, I hope there’s beauty there. I’m convinced it’s there for all of us in one form or another. We just have to keep an eye and an ear out.
