Off the beaten path
January 26, 2016 by Anna -
When I was a kid, I walked to the school bus down our half mile driveway every morning, rain, snow, or shine. Yes, I realize this sounds like your grandparent’s story of how they had to walk to school uphill both ways in a blizzard, but my story is true! During this time of year, the top layer of the snow would thaw and freeze repeatedly, forming a thick crust on the un-plowed fields of snow that surrounded our icy driveway. If the snow crust was strong enough to support our weight, we could take a shortcut to the bus through our fields and shave off a good five minutes of walking time. We always ran the risk of breaking through the top layer and having our legs plunge into the softer snow below.
Today, Annie reminded me of my childhood, as I saw her gingerly walk on the top delicate ice layer that has covered the 8 or so inches of snow we still have at the sanctuary. She bravely took a shortcut from the plowed pathway that J.B. made the other day, to one of the structures in the middle of the hill.
The other chimpanzees (Foxie seen here), still seem to stick to the less treacherous plowed pathways.
Annie continues to surprise us with her intrepid outdoor exploration.
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Annie the Intrepid Explorer! I love how gingerly she’s moving, seems like she understands the risks involved!
I love this! ????????????
Sounds like your trek to the bus was like mine! We lived on a farm with dairy and beef cattle, 7/10 of a mile from the highway. My sister and I had to walk it twice/day to catch the bus, but could also cut through the field directly in front, shaving off a good ten minutes whilst we caught the bus at a neighbour’s house. And before dad actually bought an old used bulldozer to plow the driveway, the harsh West Virginia winters would lay down close to five feet roughly every two years.
Was just reminding my sister of the year even the dozer couldn’t handle the sheer volume and a neighbour had to run us into and out of the house through the field on his snowmobile so we could get groceries.
Oh, yes–I’m so familiar with falling through the top layer of snow whilst walking!
One cool thing to me about this is that I suspect it’s partly physiology owing to their ballet skills of ice-snow-walking.Their feet have more surface area than humans, allowing their very dense weight to be more evenly distributed on the snow, keeping them from falling through. It’s the exact physics that keeps a person from being punctured to death from lying on a bed of nails while holding cinder blocks and a friend hitting it with a hammer. His weight distribution is perfect, keeping the applied force from the hammer also evenly distributed. (Just a little physics for y’all. ????)
You keep exploring Annie girl, you deserve it! Love ya!
Annie rocks- go girl!
Clever Annie – love this! ????
Brave Annie, she is a new woman these days. Amazing she braved the “crust” to venture over to her structure, and all on her own. Beauty, brains and determination, Yay Annie!