Today was a little different. I don’t think there’s any such thing as normal, ho-hum day in the chimp house, but some days stray more from the routine than others.
This morning we set up the Summer Lovin‘ party in the greenhouse. Big thanks to everyone who gave for Summer Lovin’ during our recent Summer Biddin’ online auction!
I chose to have the party today because I knew the chimpanzees wouldn’t have Young’s Hill for all or most of the day, and I figured they could use a party to distract them from this. It was for good reason – a team of volunteers were helping J.B. plant some new bamboo on the hill and hang new fire hose!
The party was a blast, and Anna and I took a lot of photos, which kind of put us behind schedule by a bit.
Below are just a few of the photos we took.
The beach-themed Summer Lovin’ Party set-up. Volunteer Lizz and Anna set up the party. The “cocktail” was fresh pressed watermelon juice and seltzer water.
Negra with one of the beach ball pinatas:
Missy with a lime, a cocktail umbrella, and a coconut:
Jody who got and held on to the top of the pineapple (you can see it sticking up behind the beach ball pinata – she’s holding it with her feet as she eats a peanut from the pinata):
Burrito with a coconut and Foxie in the foreground:
It was fun watching the chimps enjoy their party as the volunteers were hard at work planting bamboo on the hill.
Saturdays is one of our disinfecting days, and that takes longer than just a regular cleaning, so the whole day we stayed behind schedule. Which was fine, really – the schedule is just an outline for the day, not something to be adhered to with fanaticism.
The good news is that the chimps did get to go out onto the hill in the late afternoon. We put out a forage of roasted corn, which was a big hit, tomatoes, and onions.
Annie on “round two” looking for more forage:
Jamie enjoying the corn:
After the dinner forage, Missy decided to check out the new fire hose and the bamboo. J.B. got these photos of her:
And then there was Jamie, who needed to make up for the time she didn’t have on the hill today. So, I’ve spent the last couple of hours walking around the hill with her.
Jamie walking by the memorial walkway.
Sometimes it’s impossible to both please your boss and get all of your work done… so, I haven’t yet put together the video clips from the party with a thank you to everyone who gave summer lovin’ donations.
But that just means you have something to look forward to tomorrow!
Good night, everyone – from the Cle Elum Seven, who are all now sleeping, and their human crew.
