I am a primatologist who spends twelve hours most days in the company of a thirteen year old chimpanzee named Bow. I am also an editor with Inverted-A Press.
Bow received an envelope in the mail today. It was addressed to "Mr. Bow Katz", and there were beautiful stamps on the front.
"Look, Bow. Here is something for you. It came in the mail. Do you want to open it?" He examined the envelope and set about opening it. Then he fished something out of the card inside it. It was a red Christmas hat shaped ornament, with a bent paper clip for a hanger and a little bell at the end. This fascinated Bow so much that he almost did not notice the card.
The card said "Wishing you a furry Christmas" on the outside and inside there was a dog that barked the tune to "We wish you a Merry Christmas." In handwriting it said:: "Merry Christmas, Bow. Your friend Charla."
Bow listened to the barking dog sing a little and then jiggled it. But the red hat ornament was what he really wanted for his own. He handed me back the card after a while, held on to the ornament, and asked to go outside.
Bow went walking around outside, human style, stomping his feet and carrying the ornament in his hand. This really impressed Leo.
Bow was very happy with this early Christmas present. It was the perfect gift!
Then, again, maybe there is such a thing as an acquired taste, after all. No sooner had I come to the conclusion that Bow knows instantly exactly what he likes, I was presented with a counterexample.
Now that it's fall, there is a variety of fruit available at the store, including pomegranates, avocados, and guava. I am not really that big a fan of guava, but this time the fruit looked so small that it seemed unusually attractive.
The guava fruits are so small this season, they look like lemons next to the apples and the bananas. Yesterday, I offered Bow a guava. He took a sniff of it, and then he gestured with it toward my mouth. He wanted me to eat it. So I did, pausing every so often and offering some to him. He kept sniffing in my mouth, but he refused to eat the guava. "Well, that's that," I thought. "He doesn't like guava."
But then later in the afternoon Bow's friend who brings the bananas came by, and I offered her a guava, too. When Bow saw that his friend was enjoying the guava, he suddenly became very interested. '
"Bow do you want some guava, too?" I asked him. This time, when I offered him the fruit, he started eating it. In fact, he took it with him to sit on the other side of the door from his friend. They each ate their guava while looking at one another through the grid. I guess that's what you might call social eating.
Every week, Bow's friend comes by to deliver his bananas. She always phones before she comes over, and she always asks: "Is Bow ready for his bananas?' And Bow is always ready.
Bow holding an orange pipe cleaner
Over time, Bow and his friend have gotten to be very close, although always the grid of the pens separates them. Bow's friend asks him about his day, and she tells him about hers. Sometimes she shows him pictures and videos of her grandchildren. Bow watches with great interest.
Our Collection of Pipe Cleaners by the Bananas
Even though Bow's friend is never on the same side of the grid with him, she has gotten to tickle and groom him using pipe cleaners that can fit through the holes in the grid. In this way, their relationship is not just verbal but also tactile
Bow's friends has brought him many gifts over the years, including issues of the Missouri Conservationist to read and his favorite treat: Pickle Ice. These gifts have mostly been one-sided. Bow was always the recipient, never the giver.
Last week, that changed. Bow found a way to give back. As Bow's friend was tickling him with the pipe cleaner, the little fuzzy thing fell into Bow's side of the pen.
The Pipe Cleaner in Motion
Bow started playing with it, winding it tightly around his finger, so tightly that his friend was a little concerned that he might never get it off. But he did get it off eventually, and when he saw that his friend wanted it, he found a way to pass it back to her. She was so happy to have this gift from Bow, that now it hangs on her banana magnet at home.
Bow has a very good friend that he sees once a week. She comes and brings him his bananas. And sometimes she brings him magazines to read, too. It's from her that he receives those issues of the Missouri Conservationist. Yesterday, she brought Bow a very special treat: Pickle Ice.
Bow trying to figure out how to eat Pickle Ice
Now, I had never seen Pickle Ice before, and neither had Bow. But he was very curious. At dinner, he asked for the Pickle Ice first. But he didn't call it Pickle Ice. He called it מתנה. "Present". Because Bow knew that the Pickle Ice was a special gift from his friend.
Eating Pickle Ice is not easy. It is a tube of frozen pickle juice that you are supposed to squeeze to get it to slide little by little into your mouth. But if the tube isn't quite frozen enough, this can pose difficulties.
I helped Bow get the hang of squeezing the tube, and for a while that worked pretty well. He liked the salty pickle juice. But then he took the task over himself, and some of it spilled on the floor.
Unperturbed, he managed to eat some of the more frozen chunks. Then left me to clean the rest up. But all in all, Bow really enjoyed his Pickle Ice!
It has been a very nice spring so far. I was so intent on filming the baby birds that I almost did not notice the flowers opening in the rose bush that held their nest. These are wild roses, and if I had not allowed them to grow here, I would probably have never gotten to see baby robins hatch.
By the lagoon, the peonies are blossoming.
It is the accidental grass fire that killed the poison ivy that was strangling them that allowed the peonies to do so well this year.
Donald Trump seems to be like that grass fire -- destroying the GOP so that liberty can flower again from the scorched earth. Yesterday Cruz supporters left the shattered Republican Party in droves, and they are coming into the Libertarian Party to rally behind Austin Petersen, When Bernie Sanders does not win the Democrat nomination, his supporters will do the same. And so something that seemed impossible might yet happen. Austin Petersen could take over the government and make it leave us all alone to do what we want to do.
Bow and I are feeling hopeful. It's the small things that make life so wonderful, like good friends and Pickle Ice.
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