It is time for another blog for “Living With Monkeys.” I love writing them especially when they have something to do with a story!
(Story Time)
On Friday, I had the pleasure of going back to a wonderful place where there was a room full of Alzheimer residents waiting for us to start our presentation. So, for my third visit to this group, I decided to take my “Meet and Greet” pair of monkeys, Silly Willy and Sissy Lou-La-La.
I went through the same preparations that I always do of gathering props and washing the monkeys. This day I decided to wash Sissy first and when I finished drying her I placed her in one of my cages in the kitchen which has two warm lights on the top of the cage.
I went over to open up the cage that Silly Willy was in and proceeded to give him his bath next. Soon after his drying time with the box heater and his towel I turned around and saw Sissy's smiling face and decided to put the two of the monks together as I had done the previous week. This time I was placing Silly Willy into Sissy's space instead of moving her into his space.
The first thing that I noticed while watching them was that Silly Willy was eating all of her food and she was curled up on one of the blankets just wanting him to groom her freshly cleaned fur. She was being so submissive and sweet to him as he was eating up all of her special saved food.
I kept looking in on them as I was continuing to get myself ready for our monkey visit. Each time I checked on them they were choosing to settle into doing a little bit of grooming, eating and playing which is exactly what I wanted to see.
Soon it was time to load the monkeys so I decided to put both of them in the same cage that was beside me on the passenger's seat. I walked around the van, slid into the driver's seat, and pulled out of the garage.
By the time I had asked for God to bless our trip, and driven to the main highway, I started hearing sounds coming from the cage next to me. I looked down and saw Sissy's smiling face and thought, well this is great they are getting along so well in the cage together. Silly Willy is not crying and Sissy is happy.
In the next moment I started seeing the cage rock side to side and hearing very loud thumps coming from the cage. I knew instantly that the next sounds could be the sound of a full fledged fight happening with hair being pulled out and all that goes along when a problem occurs with two monkeys.
Of course, I was driving and I could not get over immediately so I reached over and opened up the cage and once again all I could see was Sissy’s face with her mouth opened and her eyes sparkling like they had fireflies dancing in them. I spoke my calm words to them which went like this, “You two have fun. Don't worry Silly Willy. I will get you out just in a moment when I can pull over. You all have fun together; it is play-play time!” (Somehow, in my delusional state of thinking, I felt that my words were going to fix the problem.)LOL
When I was finally able to pull to a safe place to stop the van, I leaned down and looked into the cage. After taking one quick look at Silly Willy face I opened the cage up as fast as I could. He was pushing himself up against the back of the cage with a total look of panic upon his face. Of course, Sissy was still smiling as I reached into the cage to rescue my little precious boy monkey.
****Monkey's emotions are so much like our own.
One moment we can be playing and having fun and then in the next moment the energy changes and we can choose to be bullies or even fearful of our loved ones. Every day I learn more about being human from living with these wonderful creatures.
We love to talk about the many different emotional states that monkeys will choose to express during their lives as they are living in captivity. Remember to get your copy of “Living With Monkeys” and learn more about monkeys and their emotions.
www.livingwithmonkeys.com is the place to get your quick down-loadable copy of “Living With Monkeys” The Baby Book – this is the foundation book for the series.
****By the way, as I am writing this blog Sissy and Silly Willy are in the cage in the kitchen grooming and loving on each other.
They are very happy and enjoying being with each other right now - anyway. Monkeys - Monkeys - Monkeys – they also seem to be able to show forgiveness in some of the exact same ways as we do.
P.S. Sissy Lou-La-La is my 17 year old black and white Capuchin monkey. She is in full-blown “Teenage-Hood.” Remember to send blessings my way often because I will have 6 of my 8 monkeys as “Teenagers” when Silly Willy turns 8 in July of 2015
(Story Time)
On Friday, I had the pleasure of going back to a wonderful place where there was a room full of Alzheimer residents waiting for us to start our presentation. So, for my third visit to this group, I decided to take my “Meet and Greet” pair of monkeys, Silly Willy and Sissy Lou-La-La.
I went through the same preparations that I always do of gathering props and washing the monkeys. This day I decided to wash Sissy first and when I finished drying her I placed her in one of my cages in the kitchen which has two warm lights on the top of the cage.
I went over to open up the cage that Silly Willy was in and proceeded to give him his bath next. Soon after his drying time with the box heater and his towel I turned around and saw Sissy's smiling face and decided to put the two of the monks together as I had done the previous week. This time I was placing Silly Willy into Sissy's space instead of moving her into his space.
The first thing that I noticed while watching them was that Silly Willy was eating all of her food and she was curled up on one of the blankets just wanting him to groom her freshly cleaned fur. She was being so submissive and sweet to him as he was eating up all of her special saved food.
I kept looking in on them as I was continuing to get myself ready for our monkey visit. Each time I checked on them they were choosing to settle into doing a little bit of grooming, eating and playing which is exactly what I wanted to see.
Soon it was time to load the monkeys so I decided to put both of them in the same cage that was beside me on the passenger's seat. I walked around the van, slid into the driver's seat, and pulled out of the garage.
By the time I had asked for God to bless our trip, and driven to the main highway, I started hearing sounds coming from the cage next to me. I looked down and saw Sissy's smiling face and thought, well this is great they are getting along so well in the cage together. Silly Willy is not crying and Sissy is happy.
In the next moment I started seeing the cage rock side to side and hearing very loud thumps coming from the cage. I knew instantly that the next sounds could be the sound of a full fledged fight happening with hair being pulled out and all that goes along when a problem occurs with two monkeys.
Of course, I was driving and I could not get over immediately so I reached over and opened up the cage and once again all I could see was Sissy’s face with her mouth opened and her eyes sparkling like they had fireflies dancing in them. I spoke my calm words to them which went like this, “You two have fun. Don't worry Silly Willy. I will get you out just in a moment when I can pull over. You all have fun together; it is play-play time!” (Somehow, in my delusional state of thinking, I felt that my words were going to fix the problem.)LOL
When I was finally able to pull to a safe place to stop the van, I leaned down and looked into the cage. After taking one quick look at Silly Willy face I opened the cage up as fast as I could. He was pushing himself up against the back of the cage with a total look of panic upon his face. Of course, Sissy was still smiling as I reached into the cage to rescue my little precious boy monkey.
****Monkey's emotions are so much like our own.
One moment we can be playing and having fun and then in the next moment the energy changes and we can choose to be bullies or even fearful of our loved ones. Every day I learn more about being human from living with these wonderful creatures.
We love to talk about the many different emotional states that monkeys will choose to express during their lives as they are living in captivity. Remember to get your copy of “Living With Monkeys” and learn more about monkeys and their emotions.
www.livingwithmonkeys.com is the place to get your quick down-loadable copy of “Living With Monkeys” The Baby Book – this is the foundation book for the series.
****By the way, as I am writing this blog Sissy and Silly Willy are in the cage in the kitchen grooming and loving on each other.
They are very happy and enjoying being with each other right now - anyway. Monkeys - Monkeys - Monkeys – they also seem to be able to show forgiveness in some of the exact same ways as we do.
P.S. Sissy Lou-La-La is my 17 year old black and white Capuchin monkey. She is in full-blown “Teenage-Hood.” Remember to send blessings my way often because I will have 6 of my 8 monkeys as “Teenagers” when Silly Willy turns 8 in July of 2015