winter

All Quiet on the Northwestern Front

March 14, 2023 by Chad de Bree 6 Comments

The battle between Winter and Spring has seemingly begun. With Spring right around the corner, the weather has been bouncing around cold, gloomy, and snowy, and sunny and warm (like today). When caregivers arrived in the morning, it was a brisk 25º, but an hour or so later is was nearing 40º. With the winter paneling still up on all the greenhouses, the sun and the rising temperature helped create a nice, warm atmosphere where the chimpanzees spent much of their day relaxing. This all made for a nice and quiet day.

Negra spent the morning portion of the day covered in blankets. Later on she was seen relaxing without the blankets.

Lucky was seen lounging about in several different spots in her greenhouses.

Gordo enjoyed his entire lunch service in the greenhouses.

Willy B looking for any leftovers someone may have left behind.

Honey B calculating her next move after lunch.

Rayne especially was seemed relaxed all day!

She even took a quick nap on one of the leaf benches on the artificial tree structure in the Marmot Mountain Playroom.

Even Barn Kitty thought today was the day to take it easy!

Here’s to hoping Spring breaks through this winter spell and brings warmer weather soon!

Bonus photo of Foxie waiting for dinner to be brought out!

Dreaming of Summer

January 24, 2023 by Chad de Bree

As I was cleaning today, I randomly thought to myself how sad I was that Annie had skipped her summer fashion for 2022. Then lo and behold, as if her ears were burning, Annie walked in wearing a hot pink headband around her waist!

It’s hard to tell if the fashion season has come early this year, or if Annie is making up for missing the 2022 season. Either way, Annie looks fabulous!

Bonus Photos:

Dora and Mave grooming this morning

Bonus Side Story:

Yesterday, as I was cleaning the Oakwood Greenhouse, I saw Dora grab a piece of paper and sit on the Lupine Playroom stairs. She sat there for a few minutes staring at it and kind of caressing it. When she got up and left, I was able to see what she found so intriguing.

It’s the Mave spread of the 2023 Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Calendar! (Which is coincidentally on sale right now!) I thought it was a little funny because she was acting like she hadn’t seen Mave in weeks. In reality, Mave was just across the room eating what was remaining of her breakfast.

Sometimes, I just can’t with the Mora relationship!

Bonus Bonus Photos:

I passed through the two greenhouses and saw Mave like this. How could I not share them?

“In my day, you had to walk 15 miles in the snow…”

January 17, 2023 by Chad de Bree

Unlike what Anthony reported yesterday, the sun was not out much today. But that didn’t stop Missy and crew from going out onto Young’s Hill!

When they were given access to their outdoor enclosure, they ventured to the same structures as yesterday.

Burrito on the other hand wanted more. He tried to convince me to run around the hill with him.

He thought better of it as the outer edges of the perimeter still have a good deal of snow (thankfully for me since the human side of the fence is covered in snow and mud). Instead, Burrito decided to explore Negra’s Cabin.

His desire to run around Young’s Hill seemed to have sparked the desire in everybody else though. Shortly after, Missy, Annie, Jody, and Jamie made their way to a set of logs that haven’t been seen since Fall.

Jody:

Missy running to greet Jamie as Annie watches:

Missy and Jamie greet each other:

Jody heading down to greet Burrito:

Though they already ventured further than they have been, it still wasn’t enough for some.

Jody on a further structure to gaze at the Yakima River:

Missy sitting amongst her beloved trees:

You might guess what is next…

Missy began her ascent up her tree:

There was a good two minute window where I thought Annie was going to follow Missy up! She would stand and grab the tree, but then let go and sit down. She repeated this a few times. In between each take, she would hype herself up to overcome her fear by rocking and tapping the tree and ground. But alas, today was not the day Annie would make her go at climb the trees.

She did, however, settle on climbing on to the top of the near by structure to be somewhat close to Missy.

After a while, Annie decided it was time to head back inside for lunch. She convinced Missy this is now the plan, and Missy obliged.

Look at that dismount!

After landing a perfect 10 dismount, it was time to head inside to enjoy some lunch!

Bonus Photos:

Jody a little piloerect from the cold air:

Burrito on top of Negra’s Cabin surveying Young’s Hill:

Sun’s Out, Puns Out!

January 16, 2023 by Anthony

Today’s weather was consistently sunny and a bit warmer than usual: a merciful break in what has otherwise been a wet and gloomy winter season.

The chimpanzees spent the day lounging in the greenhouses, grooming each other, and even doing a bit of reconnaissance from the taller structures on Young’s Hill. The embedded video and following photos show some glimpses of their peaceful afternoon.

Jody:

Rayne:

Meanwhile, back in the foyer, Jenna, Grace and I had a difficult time coming up with a title for this post. Obviously, there should be some connection to be made between the weather and the chimpanzee activities. “Something to do with sunshine?” Can you do anything with the word ‘season’?” “Does anything rhyme with ‘greenhouse’?” Still, the inspiration didn’t quite come to us.

Lately, I’ve felt pressured to create corny puns and obscure references since that is apparently what I will be remembered for as a contributor to the blog. So many of you kindly wished me well in my next endeavor (more on that next week) but it shocked me how many people said they will miss my puns. I have cautiously pushed back against this claim given that the other caregivers also spit out some amazingly awful, groan-inducing titles, but get none of the backlash from our peers who are fervently anti-pun (see: J.B. Mulcahy).

As always, I’ve taken the time to provide examples of other peoples’ campy titles:

Terry: The Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth, Cold November Rayne, Let Tree-dom Ring, Grapes n’ Roses, This Is A Bit Munch, Sani-Terry Grooming, Missy, I Love You From My Head To-ma-toes, Be Right as Rayne, Chimpanzees in the mist(er), Alpha Cy-chology, Leeked Photos, Twosday, Pretty Fly for a Shy Guy and Fantastic B’s And Where To Find Them

Those are just the ones from this last year! I can think of other egregious ones, like the time Sam called an Independence Day blog post Corn in the USA, but it would take a long time to retrieve all of them from the archives.

My point here is that the whole team is in this together. I am being unfairly singled out for getting on board this trend well before it took off.

Anyway, I hope you all appreciate these photos and video clips as much as we all appreciated a bit of a respite from the dreariness of this winter.

One more photo, this one from last week:

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P.S. Check out the following event and don’t forget to sign up here!

Virtual Visit -Let’s Learn about Positive Reinforcement Training!

January 22nd, 2023
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm PT

As Jenna explained yesterday in her post that blatantly referenced lyrics to a classic Eminem song, the sanctuary will be hosting another virtual event on this upcoming Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at 1pm PT. The two of us plan to explain how we caregivers use Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) to facilitate chimpanzee health and wellness here at the sanctuary. The virtual event will include a live visit in the Chimp House with a Q&A session to follow. You can reserve your spot by clicking here. We hope to see you there!

for the Winter Warriors

January 4, 2023 by Diana

If you follow the blog, you may have seen the brief mentions from Kelsi and then J.B. of the very eventful end of December that the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest staff and volunteers endured this year.

For the first time in over a decade (as far as we can remember), J.B. and I had scheduled a short trip to visit family together (together!) on the east coast for some winter celebrations. Almost as soon as we left, things started to malfunction at the sanctuary as Cle Elum was hit with extreme cold temperatures. J.B. helped troubleshoot the issues at a distance, but the staff on the ground had to navigate mechanical failures and multiple days with a non-functioning well, all the while caring for the chimpanzees and cattle, getting to work in icy conditions, and taking turns staying overnight to look after office cat LouLou and pups Abbey and Benny.

The nonhumans were none the wiser to these issues as the staff and volunteers managed to maintain the routine and get creative with procedures as though everything was in pristine working order. Meanwhile, J.B. and I had to extend our time away due to the weather and the complete meltdown of the aviation industry.

All of this, whilst also being away from their own families, the staff carried on with the CSNW Christmas countdown on the blog and the preparation for holiday festivities without skipping a beat.

J.B. and I couldn’t be more grateful. Neither of us worried in the least that this crew of staff, volunteers, and their spouses could handle whatever obstacle Mother Nature and Murphy’s Law presented to them. There was never a doubt that the nonhumans at the sanctuary were in the best hands possible.

Today, we thank them most humbly with this sponsor-a-day post, and invite you, too, to thank them for looking after the sanctuary every day under any and all circumstances!

A Wintry Mix

January 3, 2023 by Chad de Bree

This has been one wild winter so far. From below zero temperatures to nearly 40º back to below freezing in the span of a couple of days, it’s sometimes hard to tell what the weather is actually going to be from day-to-day. We check the weather constantly, sometimes multiple times a day, because what was being reported in the morning, can drastically change by the afternoon. Whatever the weather brings us, however, our jobs as caregivers is to be flexible to give the residents as many options as possible given the circumstances.

As Anna wrote last week, some pathways were cleared to allow Burrito’s group the option to go on the snow-covered Young’s Hill if they choose to. Today was one of those days where they chose to.

Burrito looking for the best spot of snow to snack on.

Missy went straight for the closest, tallest structure she could get to so she could take in her surroundings…

Which Burrito also wanted to see.

Jody was very calculated in her choice of snow to snack on.

Not just any snow would do!

Though Annie spent the most time outside, she always would look back at the door leading inside.

But once Missy headed back in, so did Annie.

With Burrito not far behind.

Though we may never know what they are exactly thinking, it did seem like they were taking in as much outside as they could today. We do have a forecast of wintry mixes coming up for the next couple of days. And before we know it, the snow will begin to melt and Spring will be here (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). So might as well grab as many snow snacks while you can!

Some bonus photos:

Negra grunting at me as I greeted her this morning.

Gordo eating last night’s dinner from the top of the firehose.

Betsy chowing down on some hay yesterday when it was bright and sunny.

Secret Santa

December 13, 2022 by Chad de Bree

Boy howdy! What a busy day! Besides our daily Chimp House duties, we had our bi-weekly staff meeting, are deep in preparing for the resident’s Christmas party, sorting through gifts that arrived from the recent Comfort & Joy auction, and trying to keep up with Burrito!

We want to thank those who have purchased items off our Amazon Wish List! We just wanted to let you know if you have purchased something off the wishlist, or sent something directly to us, please be assured that we have or will receive it. It may just take a little bit for us to process things in order to send out the confirmation it has arrived.

If you would like to still purchase items off our wish list for their Christmas party, there’s still time! But time is starting to run out for it to be delivered on time. If you can, please peruse through our Amazon Wish List. We hope to make this Christmas a special one for them!

Now for some photos from today!

Terry taking his chow biscuits to go!