What do you do when it snows in early November? If you are Jackie, you give the troll dolls “snow-fro’s” and put them out as part of the chimps’ dinner forage.
northwest
Burrito being playful
I have pretty much the best job in the world. Thanks to stellar volunteers Jessica and Lynn, I was able to spend some time with Burrito this morning. He was in a particularly silly mood.
It’s easy to forget everything that he’s been through when he’s so playful. Chimpanzees have very good memories, but I think they are better at living in the moment than most humans. And Burrito is definitely better at remaining childlike.
HALLOWEEN
The Halloween / Jamie’s birthday celebration today is perhaps the biggest party we’ve had to date, and the chimpanzees were food grunting and squeaking like they’d happened upon the most exciting food they had ever seen.
Here are a few photos of the festivities:
Jamie looking through a Halloween gift bag. Thanks for all the great new toys, Robbi and Dick!
Jamie (and really everyone) enjoyed the juice in Halloween cups with Halloween straws. Thanks, Stephanie!
Jody decided to spend her time bobbing for apples in the pool we filled with water:
Burrito went around to all of the food buckets and picked out the pomegranates, squeaking the entire time. Thanks for the donation to buy produce for the party, Tamela!
Jamie opened up all of the pinatas, including this boot pinata (thanks, Felicity!), but she left some nuts behind. Here’s Negra getting what was left behind:
Foxie kept going back to this bag and peering inside, but she left it for someone else to open. Jamie finally did and Foxie got the troll doll that was in the bag:
Gorgeous Annie
I posted these on Annie’s Facebook page a few weeks ago. Here they are for those who refuse to succumb to joining Facebook.
Changes to blog comments and new stuff in the store
I have made a couple of changes that effect blog comments. At least temporarily, all comments will have to be approved before they are posted to the blog. This will mean a delay in your comments showing up on the blog. I did this to hopefully better control any possible security compromise to the blog.
While I was changing that I noticed that comments could be ordered differently. I switched it around so that now the most recent comments will be seen first and you won’t have to scroll down past comments you’ve already read. Hope you like that!
Thanks for being such faithful blog readers and sharing favorite posts by clicking on the Share This button and the Facebook Like buttons at the top of the posts. It’s great to know that the Cle Elum Seven could have new friends every day.
Also, while I’m at it – did you notice the new items in the online store? (look to the right under “featured item”.) 2011 Calendars and the Sanctuary Year Two books are now available!
Impersonation
Jackie and Elizabeth are off to see Jane Goodall speak in Seattle and I’m here closing up, looking at some photos and videos from the last couple of days.
I did a double take when I saw this photo, taken through one of the picture windows, of Missy doing a very good impersonation of Negra:
Auction Photos!
We were very lucky to have documentary photographer Karen Ducey volunteer her services at the Out of the Box auction this year. Everyone can view the photos and even purchase favorites. Just click here and enter the password chimps when prompted. Proceeds from the sale of the photos will go to the sanctuary.
I am still amazed by everyone who donated items, sponsored, volunteered and attended Out of the Box, and to all who participated in our first ever online auction.
Thanks to all of you, the auctions combined raised over $100,000 and the chimps will be on Young’s Hill next year.
Here are a few photos to give you a flavor for the Oct. 1st auction evening:
Silent Auction:
Live Auction
Dessert Dash:
You really have to view all of the photos to take in the whole event. It was such a special night full of unforgettable moments and an amazing collective energy. It will be difficult to top, but we’re already working on 2011’s auction!
