Jody resting:
Missy and Annie grooming Jody:
Foxie and a new Dora the Explorer doll courtesy of friend Leslie Sodaro:
Burrito:
Sanctuary
“Innocent” Jody
While Jody is very much a sweetheart when she wants to be, she does have her devilish side. She is often the first of the chimps to greet us humans in the morning- usually with a long kiss and a breathy pant. Her sweet almond-shaped eyes will make you melt.
but… she’s not always so innocent
Good thing troll dolls are loved with or without hair!
Time to relax
The weather is getting warmer in Cle Elum and the chimps are starting to spend more and more time out on the hill. Over the winter, the chimps spent most of their time outside running around, playing, and exploring. But with the warmer weather, they are starting to relax a bit more.
Jamie sitting on the end of a climbing structure beam:
Missy:
Missy can only sit still for so long, however. Jackie took this photo of Missy playfully grabbing Annie’s foot:
Foxie and troll bellies
Foxie likes to not only rub her trolls on her own belly (and other dolls like Dora or a stuffed animal with JB’s face on it), but she also likes to gently rub their bellies with her thumb. This is just a picture so you can’t really see the action, but even with the troll upside down she’s still rubbing its belly.
Hiding out
Negra loves to cover herself in blankets, so as we were wrapping up cleaning today, in thinking of her I was inspired to build more forts in the playroom. We have several bullet-proof glass windows in the playroom but for ventilation purposes, we have left the caging over a few of them. Negra often builds her daytime nest in front of one of the window cages, so I decided to tie blankets up to the caging and let them drape off of the railing, making it a cabana-style fort. I think Negra was pretty pleased.
Though this isn’t a great shot, I love that it shows Negra peaking around the blanket to see what is going on outside of her fort
Burrito liked it a lot too. Here he is enjoying his peanuts in his fort
Spring!
We brought springtime inside this morning to celebrate the equinox in memory of our friend Katie Gieser. The chimps had a lovely forage with lots of lettuce (always a special treat!). Plus paper flowers and decorations galore! Here are a few highlights:
Missy (tho I wouldn’t have known it was her unless Jackie told me!) feasting away:
Mister B amidst the spiderweb of yellow ribbon:
Jamie with her collection from the forage:
And Jamie again, posing perfectly for the camera in her springtime nest (note the boot in her hip pocket):
Jody: Version 2.0
For as long as we’ve known her, Jody has loved to lounge. While the other chimps frolic around her, she takes it easy in an enormous nest of soft blankets. Young’s Hill, though, is bringing out Jody’s long-latent inner athlete. She’s been playing with the other chimps more and more, and she’s even running for the first time ever.
Today when we opened the door to the hill, Jody shot out like a cork. After a brief run to stretch her legs, she joined Jamie and Foxie for a lengthy game of slow chase. After she had depleted her energy reserves, she found some ice in a tire swing and took it into the greenhouse to enjoy. (Photos courtesy of Jackie)
