Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way have been withstanding the 100+ degree heat we’ve had the last couple of days and working hard on Young’s Hill with J.B. They built a couple of new smaller structures and put in the posts for a fire hose bridge that the troop is building for us. The bridge will connect two of the climbing structures so the chimps can go between them without touching the ground. It already looks so different out there! We got some pretty cool footage from the GoPro camera today. We’ll post that tomorrow, but in the meantime here’s a little teaser screenshot from the video of Annie climbing one of the new posts. Thanks so much for all your hard work guys!
chimpanzee
Corn on the cob lunch
Pinterest Craft Challenge
I would call myself a Pinterest dabbler at this point. Aside from the endless recipes, I’m amazed by the craftiness of the pins that I’ve seen.
So, I had a thought today…
We have a BUNCH of misprinted t-shirts. We’ve had them since October 2009 and just haven’t come up with a way to use all of them.
Seems like a challenge perfect for crafters, whether they’re on Pinterest or not. It’ll be simple – I’ll mail you a shirt or shirts, you create something (bonus points for creating something the chimps will love), you send us back your creation, we’ll share it with others on Pinterest and vote on the best. We’ll come up with some prizes too. If appropriate, we’ll give your creation to the chimps to see what they make of it.
Go to the link of the pin on Pinterest that explains the challenge and share widely with your crafty friends. The more creations we get, the more fun it will be. I’ll set the deadline based on the interest we get in the project.
Here’s a photo of the shirts:
The printer reversed the image on the shirts, which resulted in a demon-like image of Jody (too scary to show in full view). We don’t want people walking around wearing the shirts and we don’t want to do anything with them that preserves that image, though cutting the image out and using the web address would be okay.
Ready to craft? Just email me ([email protected]) and tell me how many shirts you need. I’ll answer any questions you have and give you some more guidelines if you want to make something for the chimps.
Burrito getting some shade
Happy 4th!
The chimps have had a great party today! The weather has been awesome– right now, it’s 70 degrees and it’s completely wind-less (a rarity these days!). This morning, we set up a huge forage on Young’s Hill- plums, grapes, peanuts, and chow, and the highlight– frozen grapefruit bowls. Last week, I had the idea to cut grapefruit in half and freeze juice and berries inside the peel, and a few days later, volunteers Seana, Lisa and Denice went to work and made it happen! They looked so delicious! Thanks so much for pulling that one off, ladies! The chimps loved them!
Jamie collected the majority, of course:
and was very dedicated to the cause:
Annie collected an enormous mouthful of chow!
Last week, we asked our blog readers what they thought we should do for the 4th of July party. We received some great ideas! One was from Sara, who suggested “Firecracker Poppers” (toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper, filled with peanuts, and the ends tied with ribbon. Volunteer CJ and I made these yesterday and they turned out so cute! But I unfortunately wasn’t able to get any photos. So, volunteer Julie is here now and is going to make the chimps’ evening nightbags out of them. Thanks for the cute idea, Sara!
Elizabeth was inspired by blog commenter Annie N’s suggestion to make popsicles, so she froze juice inside Dixie Cups with little popsicle sticks. Again, the chimps were thrilled! Thanks for the idea, Annie!
Negra was the most excited about these. While everyone else was exploring for goodies on the hill, she stayed in the greenhouse to have a party of her own– a 4th fit for a Queen!
Field Roast hot dogs have become a CSNW 4th of July tradition. Volunteer Patti brought Field Roast Frankfurters, ketchup, and mustard so we could serve them for lunch. The chimps love Field Roast! They truly savored each and every bite.
Jamie:
Even Burrito took the tiniest little bites of his hot dog to make it last longer! You don’t see that every day!
Along with making the Firecracker Popper Nightbags mentioned above, Volunteer Julie has also been hard at work making another frozen treat for dinner- limes cut in half and filled with red gatorade (to look like watermelon)! The “seeds” are sunflower seeds!
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
Jody’s sunny profile
Faces
A few months ago, Sarah posted some photos of (most of) our caregiving staff and volunteers. Here are a few more.
Volunteer caregiver Denice with Jamie, Missy, and Annie:
Volunteer caregiver Erin with Foxie and Jamie:
Staff caregiver Debbie with Foxie:
And staff caregiver Jackie with all seven chimpanzees: