Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jamie

‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving…

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‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when all through the [chimp] house

Not a chimp was stirring, not even a Honey (B);

The chimps were in bed, tucked into nests

in hopes that sweet rolls would soon be at Chimp Sanctuary Northwest.

 

Today has been rather low-key, whether the chimps realize it or not, they are resting up for the big Thanksgiving celebration. I personally can’t wait to hear Negra food squeak for Hawaiian rolls – it’s something I wait all year for! I thought I would share a collection of photos taken from today.

Negra staring out the window this morning:

Terry playing chase with one of his caregivers:

Missy eating tomatoes at lunch:

Cy <3:

Burrito spying on the neighbors:

Jamie laying on a barrel:

Jamie off-duty:

Honey B during a lunch forage:

Gordo, isn’t he so handsome?:

Sweet little Dora:

Chimp Lesson #7: It Can Wait

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Last month, caregiver Sabrina wrote the first in a series of blogs titled ‘Lessons the Chimps Have Taught Us‘. Today, I would like to add to it. 🙂

We mention it quite often, but our days here are buuuusssyyy. We have a lot to do and time tends to slip away from us, or maybe time really does just go faster when you’re in the chimp house. Either way, we have to make conscious decisions throughout the day about how we spend our time to make sure we get everything done and also spend time with the chimps.

This morning, Sabrina and I went and did our perimeter check of Young’s Hill and the Bray. I was standing by the raceway (the connecting enclosure from the Greenhouse to Young’s Hill) while giving caregiver Jenna my safety report over the radio and Burrito was already being his wild self! Wanting to play a game of chase, he would run over to me, stomp his back foot, and go running off- with me following, of course. I thought that I would need to take a few minutes to play chase with him before doing the rest of the lead caregiver’s morning responsibilities, but he had other things in mind.

As soon as I opened the door, he was running! And, not just running, but looking back at me, clapping, breathy panting, and stomping his feet. Not only was he going for a morning jog around the hill, but I was about to go with him.

I always get really happy when a chimp asks me to spend time with them- whether it be a walk outside, a quiet grooming session, or a game of chase. It’s just, well, special. And it never gets old.

While I was happy to spend time with Burrito, my mind was definitely on everything that I had to get done today. A few steps around the hill, though, Burrito paused our race to sit down while looking back at the chimp house. The winter chill could definitely be felt this morning and there was a layer of fog around the foothills, but the blue winter-y morning light made everything extra breath-taking.

I grew up in Ohio and while the Midwest has it’s own charm and beauty, I don’t think there’s anything like the mountains on a cold winter morning.

So, all this to say that today I was reminded of one of the things that the chimps have taught me.

Your to-do list will always be there and it will always be just as important. But- taking the time to spend quality, fully present moments with people you love is a pretty good reason to put it on hold. It can wait… Burrito can’t. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this mornings walk as much as I did.

Photos from My Vault

Gordo, enjoying a sunny lunch forage:

Terry, looking out to the Bray:

Don’t forget to participate in our Comfort & Joy Online Auction– be sure to get your bids & donations in before the event ends this Saturday, November 18th. 🙂

Caregivers, Assemble!

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I send my apologies to our supporters, followers, well-wishers, and passersby of today’s blog. Today is the first time staff had a meeting since a couple weeks before Jamieween. Usually, I can put together a blog and photos after the meetings, but since some time has passed since our last meeting, there was a lot to discuss. So please excuse today’s blog as it is really several ideas I had today to write about, but wasn’t able to let any of them to come to full fruition.

Willy B seemed a tad annoyed when I thought I would write a blog about him since it has been a little while

So I let that idea go.

Mave inspired the thought of trying to write about chimpanzee facial expressions

But a blog like that would require a little more time to do it justice.

Jamie carrying her boot onto Young’s Hill

And Cy carrying his magazine onto the Bray

I was going to have a montage of enrichment items the chimps bring with them into the outdoor enclosures, but I couldn’t find anybody else and I didn’t have time to go through our archives.

Rayne getting low to get a better look at the approaching stranger danger (really it was Jenna in her street closes that threw Rayne off)

And Jamie and Burrito going around Young’s Hill with caregivers Grace, Jenna, and Diana

Which in turn ended up Burrito going around Young’s Hill with me

Those last few sets of photos inspired me to think of writing a blog on chimpanzee/caregiver interactions/relationships. But again, time stopped me.

Maybe those topics will be covered someday, however today isn’t that day unfortunately.

And thank you to everyone that joined us during last nights online gathering for Comfort & Joy! If you couldn’t make it, you can watch the event on YouTube. And if you thought that was the end of the auction, it’s not! You still have time to bid on your favorite items until November 18th!

New Traditions

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Holidays can be hard when loved ones have passed. Though Jamieween is a celebration of Jamie’s birthday and Halloween, for all of us (staff, volunteers, and supporters) it is the day of the great pumpkin heist. Where we watched Jody end up with the pumpkin whether she was sneaky about it or just plucked the pumpkin off the Hill and walked right in with it, obviously paying the Negra tax. It was a day we all looked forward to, Jody stealing the show, which is hard to do on a day all about Jamie :). Altogether the chimps still had an amazing Jamieween filled with so much good food, laughter, play, enrichment, and pumpkins, it wasn’t quite the same without Jody’s dinosaur groans and her carrying a pumpkin as big as her.

With change sometimes comes new traditions. Everyone in Negra’s group was much more modest with the pumpkins this year, including Negra having to get her own pumpkin. Yesterday, the day after Jamieween, I let Jamie’s group out onto Young’s Hill. Jamie seemed to be in a very happy mood and sprinted out wanting to go on a perimeter walk/run with me. While Jamie was walking, Annie, Missy, and Burrito went up to Jody’s pumpkin. Annie eventually took some of the pumpkin, still leaving a little behind. Annie also found other forage items that was missed yesterday. To our surprise Jamie did not get mad when Annie had a handful of mini peppers and a mouth full of pumpkin. Instead, Jamie seemed excited to go look for her own leftover forage items. To me it seems like Annie is the winner of the great pumpkin heist this year.

Jamie the day after Jamieween. Nesting with some of her new boots:

Jamie today nesting, still recovering from her party:

Jamieween 2023

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Happy Jamieween, everybody! The time has finally come for us to celebrate our boss, Jamie Chimpanzee! Today, Jamie turns 46 years young! We celebrated today with some of her favorite things: pomegranates, leeks, bell peppers, pear cider, and new boots and books!

We also included two new items! Inside the cups of pear cider were ice skulls with “brains”(raspberries)!

The second item was “Chow for Brains”! A gracious donor purchased silicone brain molds from our Amazon Wish List to help us make brains out chow dust, banana, pomegranate juice, and apple sauce! With so much commotion and excitement from today, I completely forgot to take photos of them. You can catch a small glimpse of Terry eating one here:

For us caregivers, this Jamieween was bittersweet. It is the first Jamieween we celebrated without our celebrated Great Pumpkin Thief: Jody. But with Dia De Los Muertos beginning tomorrow, we decided to honor our beloved Jody by decorating her burial site and to offer her some of her favorite forage foods, this included big leafy greens! You can watch the video to see the set up and who stopped by to visit. Interestingly enough, everybody left that pumpkin where it was. This is probably just a huge coincidence, but I am choosing to believe they left it there for her.

We hope you all have a happy and safe Jamieween!

Here are some photos from today!

Missy

Burrito

Terry

And Annie (leaving Jody’s site)

Mora excited for today’s menu

Postponing Winter

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Despite the sudden cooler temperatures (it was a crisp 33 degrees arriving to the sanctuary this morning), the sun was out and shining today. The sun felt so good and warm, that I thought it’d be a perfect day for a forage on Young’s Hill. Jamie, Missy, Burrito, Annie, and Foxie agreed with me and were happy to do a lunch forage out on the Hill. Negra requested her meal to be inside for a lunch party of one, presumably so she can be where it is warmer.

One of the highlights of the morning, as you will see pictured below, is Jamie drinking from her tiny teacup. We made up a Gatorade pool, which is one of Jamie’s favorite things, in their Playroom. The entire group usually sits down and drinks up. Jamie loves using a cup to drink from, but today it was especially funny to see her use the tiniest cup possible to drink from.

On the other side of the building, Cy’s group is also soaking up the sun in their Greenhouses, their chute, and the Bray.

Rayne:

Cy:

Annie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Missy:

Rayne:

Drawing on a package we received from a donor 🙂

A Rawrrr-ing Good Time

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Like Kelsi wrote in yesterday’s blog, there is no such thing as a dull moment here at CSNW. Sometimes I think the phrase “keeps you on your toes” was coined by / for chimpanzee caregivers.

This morning, we got to work and it was a brisk 34 degrees. Kelsi and I hopped in the side-by-side to do our perimeter check so we could let the chimps into their respective outdoor enclosures. The two sides of the chimp house operate simultaneously, so we have two shifters during morning cleaning. The lead caregiver for the day shifts doors in the original building and the second shifter shifts the new building, so we buddy system the perimeter check.

When I opened the door to Young’s Hill, I didn’t expect anyone to go rushing outside since it was so chilly. I was proved wrong, though, when Jamie went right out and around we went for an early morning patrol.

By the time we got around the top, we had been joined by Missy and Burrito. The early morning walk with Jamie turned into some cardio when Burrito took over and we raced down the hill. Because who doesn’t love cardio in the morning, am I right?

As you all know, one of the best holidays of the year is coming up in a few short days. The countdown to Jamie-ween is officially in single digits! I grew up in a family that loves Halloween and I always look forward to pumpkin carving, dressing up, and lots (and lots) of candy. And, because I’m a mature adult, I’ve been really wanting to purchase one of those big blow up T-Rex costumes that are pretty popular online for a while. Amazon Prime day got the best of me this year and, you guessed it, a few days later a giant inflatable T-Rex showed up at my door.

Best day ever? Maybe.

And over time, we’ve learned that some of the chimps think that masks are pretty funny. Gordo especially loves a troll mask we have that was donated a while back! So I wanted to bring the costume to work and share it with my friends.

With a little help from my human coworkers I was able to show it to both groups of chimps! First I went back to Cy’s group and made sure all the chimps were around while I put it on, so that they knew it was me inside it. Gordo and Dora both seemed really interested in it! The people in Jamie’s group were more unsure, so I didn’t spend much time on that side of the chimp house. Jamie, Negra, & Burrito saw it acted like it was just another Wednesday. Annie, Foxie, and Missy weren’t into it- which is totally okay! The fun part about random enrichment things like this is that it’s okay if some people don’t want to engage. Some people though, like Gordo, enjoyed the short T. Rex intermission. 🙂

If you’re looking forward to Jamie-ween like we are, be sure to get your tickets to an exclusive Behind-The-Scenes of Jamie-ween virtual sanctuary visit on 10/31/23 at 12:00pm PT. If you want to attend, but have to work or have other responsibilities, still consider registering, because we’ll send out a link to the recording to everyone who registered so you can watch it at your leisure. 🙂

We’re super excited to share some of Jamie-ween with all of you, since it’s such a special holiday to all of us here. It’s also the perfect kick-off to our Comfort & Joy auction, which will be going live on the 31st and will run until November 18th. To celebrate all things Comfort & Joy, we are also offering a Comfort & Joy Virtual Gathering event on November 12th! This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the sanctuary, connect with us via chat, and just enjoy an evening full of comfort, chimps, & joy. What could be better? 🙂

See y’all soon!

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who submitted a review in Great Nonprofits for us yesterday evening! We won a spot on the 2023 Top-Rated Non-Profit list, which is awesome. 🙂 Thank you!