Life with a Chimpanzee

Dear All of My Dear Friends and Family,

Out of demand, I will be telling you all about how Jesse, our pet chimpanzee, is doing.  But, first I must inform you of some very sad news.  Our dog, Hopety-Hope, died earlier this week.  He got hit straight on by a fast moving motor-cycle.  Unfortunately, Don and I were right there when it happened.  It is really sad and we really miss him.  We are doing okay.  (Hope was the only dog my husband says that he has really loved but all of us really loved him.)  He was really a good guard dog and his main goal in life was to protect us, I think. 
On a different note,  Jesse  is so funny.  If you were with us, you would find yourselves laughing all the time.  Everything that she does is funny.  She is like a yo-yo.  She might like you one second and the next second, she doesn't want to have anything to do with you.  You know this because one second, you are holding her and you try to put her down and she will NOT let go.  She holds onto your shirt with her 2 hands, so you use all your strength to remove her hands from your shirt just to realize that she also is holding onto your pants with her "hand-like" feet, while yelling as if you are really hurting her.  Then you conclude, that getting her off of you is one impossible task.  (Which is why you may see pictures of her hanging onto our backs, our heads, etc.  Because, we know, that it is sometimes just easier to let her stay where ever she has planted herself.)  :)  Let's say that you get her off, then a little while later, you try to pick her up, many times, she will do her best to keep you from picking her up while yelling like you are hurting her; because she doesn't want you to hold her this time.  :) 

Jessie having fun in her tree

Jessie eating bush kola in her tree

We have a tree right outside our house.  It is not an extrmemely large tree, but it has a lot of branches.  Really, it is perfect for a monkey because it is right there.  She loves to go up there and just sit and relax in her "bed".  She has bent down branches into a little pile in different sections high in the tree.  So, it is common to find her chilling on her bed.  She doesn't really hang and play in the tree like you would think of a monkey, but she likes to swing from branch to branch while she is trying to get from point A to point B.  It is amazing, how far out on a branch she will travel.  I would be afraid to sit on the edge of the branch for fear that it would crack and I would fall.  Not Jesse.  She climbs right out on the edge and stays on there fine.  It is also fun to put her paw-paw, an African fruit, on the branches and she will run up there and make the monkey loud  OO OO OO OO OO OO and sometimes she says, Brk brk brk  brk brk brk." And sometimes she says it  REALLY REALLY  LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Grace put in the sound effects.  I think she did a good job with them.)  :)  

Jessie likes to help with dishes and laundry

Every morning during the week, we walk down the street to get bean sandwiches for breakfast.  (We have learned that these bean sandwiches help to keep weight on the kids so the little extra cost is really worth it.)  Anyways, Jesse LOVES to go!  She will start OO OO OOing, and then will start barking, and then she gets so excited that she pats her hand against Don as he is carrying her in ryhthm while she is yelling, "Brk! Brk!"  It is so funny.
When we go into town, Jesse will usually stay with Kim; but sometimes he is not available to watch her, so one day, we decided to lock her on our front porch.  (It is screened in.)  The first time we put her in there, she somehow undid the door and came in the house and ate all of our money.  (Oh yeah, she loves to eat money.)  So the next time, we made sure to lock the door well and then put her in there.  Well, the way that our front porch works is that there are 2 rooms adjoining in our screened in front porch.  Well, she managed to open that door, walk in, climb up the wall and out through the roof.  She met us on the other side of the house.  She managed her escape within seconds.  So, now we have to make sure both doors are locked.  However, she really hates going in there all by herself.  She is really a people monkey.  So all the people on the property knows when she gets put in our front porch, for she makes the winest, loud high-pitched sound that you can possibly imagine.  And she climbs all around in that porch hoping to find another way to escape.  

Jessie loves to be held.  Imagine teaching school with a monkey around your neck.

When she is inside or we are holding her, she wears an African diaper.  By the way, just for your information, she does not have a tail.  We are trying to potty train her.  Is it working?  That would depend upon who you ask.  Don says, "Definitely."  I would say, "Definitely not."  :)  She either sleeps with the kid's or she sleeps in her bed.  Her bed is a rectangle shaped Chrysler box which had arrived shortly before we got her with stuff from the USA with a "hard" African pillow inside.  (Thanks Dad for the box.  It is very useful.)  :)  However, she is growing so I don't know how much longer that her little body will be fitting into it.  Meanwhile when we put her in there, she will usually make happy "OO OO OO sounds." :)

Jessie getting her teeth brushed after her bath.

Every couple of days, Don will give her a bath.  She hates cold water and lets the world know it, but puts up with it when we have warm water.  Though, she LOVES the towel.  The second the towel comes out and she gets wrapped up in it, she again makes her happy sounds.  To be cuddled up in that nice warm towel...she thinks that is pretty good.  Which reminds me, I must tell you about this as well.  She enjoys going to the shower with us.  She will sit on the shower wall and eat leaves while we are taking our open air bucket bath.  After we are finished, we grab our towel and then Jesse begins to make her happy "OO OO OO" sounds.  She really gets excited!  (We think that SHE thinks that WE really like our towel, too.)  LOL!  :)

Last but not least, I must tell you that Don and the kid's have her language down.  Yes, Don - my husband - speaks chimpanzee.  When Jesse and Don begin talking, it is so funny.  They really get into it.  So, what I want to see is that if we find ourselves at a zoo this summer, I want  to know if Don will be able to get the chimpanzees talking.  Wouldn't THAT be fun?!!!  Also, I want to see what other people think of Don's talking chimpanzee.....LOL!!!!!  Wouldn't we all love to be around to see that??!!!!!  LOL!  :)
Well, we love you all!  So excited to see you all!!
Love, Mel 

Jessie in her bathrobe

PS.  If any of you have any questions about our dear Jesse, please feel free to ask.  We will respond honestly.  Oh, I must tell you that one of her most loved past-time's is to stick her finger in her diaper and then her finger goes straight up into her mouth.  LOL!  Yep, she is definitely an animal.  :)

PPS.  You know the saying, "There's a monkey on my back?"  Yes, we all understand what that saying means now...... :)

Jessie loves our other pets.  She has a favorite kitten that she likes to hold and play with.