News from the World by THE Ninja Muse

Greetings, Monkeyville blog readers! This is your roving guest Monkeyville reporter, THE Ninja Muse, coming to you from my dining room where Boris Monkey and Voltaire Monkey are currently recounting their vacation to the wonderful state of Vermont, where they experienced things in two weeks that most monkeys wouldn’t experience in an entire lifetime.

Boris, the newest addition to my Monkeyville flock of monkeys showed up at my door three days before leaving for vacation and he was promptly packed in the suitcase for traveling. It was then decided that he needed a travel companion, someone who had been around for a while and could show Boris that traveling with me wasn’t scary and that he wouldn’t get left behind. Plus, it’s scary to be on your own in a new place, isn’t it? So Voltaire bravely volunteered to come along to be Boris’s travel buddy. Into the suitcase he went. Secretly, he was glad to go along, because it’s been so hot here that Ninja Muse Monkey has been a little whiny and Voltaire was a bit tired of hearing it.

Boris and Voltaire weren’t too thrilled about being packed up in a suitcase, but unfortunately, it was just the safest way to travel for them. When your limbs are sewn on, you don’t really want to take the chance of getting an arm or a tail caught on something and yanked off. Luckily, the Monkeys understood, which was a Very Good thing, because they were trapped in the suitcase for three days before they were allowed out!

Finally, after three long days, Boris and Voltaire came out to play! They were so thrilled to be out that they hopped all over Ninja Dad and wanted him to pose for a picture with them. Ninja Dad laughed at them, and at the photographer, but was a good sport about it. 

 

After posing and grinning for the camera, Boris and Voltaire scampered off to see what kind of trouble they could get into.

The boys found a frame and decided that they wanted pictures of themselves to commemorate the trip, complete with nature-like surroundings.

And after taking the boys’ photos, I tripped over a hole and rolled a little, managing to capture the occasion with a picture.

  

Then Boris and Voltaire decided they wanted a silly picture of themselves, so they chose the outhouse as a background.

 
There’s something to be said for the power of suggestion, in Voltaire’s opinion.

While Voltaire was a bit indisposed, Boris clowned around, waiting for his pal.

Then, Boris found a bug! He was so proud of finding his first ‘wild animal’ of the trip! It’s a leaf bug!

Voltaire met up with Boris again just moments later and the two of them shared a giggly moment. I wasn’t allowed to peek until they were ready. When in farm country, do as the hayseeds do!

After that, the boys wanted some quiet time to reflect on their first day out of the suitcase, away from the socks they rode with.  Doesn’t Boris have the cutest tush?

After some rest and relaxation, it was time to chop some wood! Oh no! Monkeyville monkeys don’t have fingers! How can they hold an axe? Boris was insistent that he could do it, but luckily, Voltaire knew better, so being the sweet Monkey he is, he offered to hold the wood.

 Just like Voltaire thought, Boris was just a tad too short to reach, so chopping wood was out of the question for these guys.  They did cheese it up for the camera a little, though!

  

Whew, even just preparing to chop wood is hard work! It’s time to make some iced tea and cool off in front of the fan for a little while!

By then it was starting to get dark, so it was time to light the gas lamps. Boris offered to do that, since he wasn’t able to chop the wood. Even though Monkeys shouldn't be playing with matches, he wanted to help and he was careful. 

Now that there was light, Boris and Voltaire could see to start writing out postcards.  “Dear Ninja Family…”

Then they had some time to play a few hands of cards. Voltaire taught Boris how to play Gin Rummy, and then Boris taught Voltaire the subtle art of losing.

Finally, it was time to wash up and go to bed. The boys poured the water into the basin.

And then it was time to end the day! Good night, lovely blog readers!

 

Monkeyville is Experiencing Technical Difficulties

There is something good planned... there were just issues with some photos.

Now For a Short Commercial Break

I'll do my best to write a sock monkey entry this week. It's just been a pretty hard couple of weeks, and I have trouble doing the happy, funny monkey entries with other things are going wrong.

However, I do have some AWESOME monkey photos taken by the one and only Ninja Muse for the next entry.

For now, here's a video about what NOT to say to a sock monkey... you know, just in case you're talking to one sometime.

Sock Monkey Monday: From the Desk of Eli D. Monkey

Hello Internets! For those of you who aren't following me on Twitter, this is Eli Monkey. I'm giving the Monkey Maker the night off, and doing the Sock Monkey Monday entry this week. Last week, Sirus and I went on vacation (we were nice, and brought the Monkey Maker with us too) so I have lots and lots of photos to share.

Sirus and I posed on some fake people at the Providence Airport

We left Friday afternoon, which Sirus and I spent IN THE SUITCASE, because the Monkey Maker said we were luggage! At first, it wasn't fun (we were in with the shoes, gross!) but then we were granted reprieve from the stinky shoes, while we waited for the plane to arrive.

 Potato chips would be our traveling companions for the rest of the trip.

I told Monkey Maker that if I HAD to be in the bag with the chips, then I wanted to go to Starbucks before we left. I needed something to go with all those chips after all! Sure, Monkey Maker SAID that it was the cabin pressure that opened the bag, but Sirus and I were hungry and the stewardesses don't offer snacks and drinks to those of us traveling in the OVERHEAD COMPARTMENTS.

Nope, no plane yet.

It was a bit cramped in the overhead compartment, but once we got to Wisconsin, Sirus and I got to roam free around the house. Sirus relaxed, while I made friends with a giant white kitty. The kitties are MUCH bigger in Wisconsin than they are in Monkeyville. 

Mostly, Sirus and I spent our vacation eating some REALLY good food cooked by chef Tria. Way better than the foods we normally eat (the Monkey Maker always says there isn't time to cook-- blah!). For example, on Saturday, there was "Luketacular 3" which was a really tasty crawfish boil. 

Mudbugs-- yummy!

This is a seriously awesome way to celebrate a birthday, and maybe next year, we'll do it for Sirus's birthday. One morning, we woke up to homemade WAFFLES (imagine that in Donkey from Shrek's voice) another it was homemade, warm blueberry muffins. We were spoiled little monkeys for the whole weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if I gained a few ounces!

It wasn't ALL delicious food, one day, we went to the zoo. We saw lots and lots of animals, including snorting seals, lions, snakes, and some monkeys that weren't made out of socks! HOWEVER, I need to talk to you "people". What's with putting the monkeys behind big, huge fences?! Don't you know that monkeys like to roam free???

Poor guy, I feel for him. There aren't even any chips for him to snack on.

I had a strict talk with the Monkey Maker about this, but apparently it was for our "safety" because only sock monkeys are able to roam free. After that, I did my best to look especially "socky" so no one would try to put ME in a big cage. 

 

When we got to the snakes and other reptiles, I was glad there was glass. I'm not noms!

 

Hey look! Escaped humans! Get them, quick!

We flew home on the Fourth of July, which was pretty cool, because we got to fly over all of the fireworks. Also, because there were no chips in the bag, Sirus and I didn't have to go in the overhead bin, we got to sit in a seat like all of the humans!

I think the Monkey Maker was trying to make up for the whole zoo thing, but as we were flying over all the fireworks of people celebrating their freedom from England's oppression, I couldn't help but think of my monkey brethren being oppressed at the zoo. Sirus said I was making a mountain out of a molehill, but I was still irked. I started a hashtag on twitter about it even-- #Freemonkey. Maybe it was all that time I spent in the suitcase, or maybe Sirus just isn't as willing to fight for primate rights as I am. He says things are different once you're not in college.

We had a lot of fun on our vacation (even the zoo), and hopefully, we'll be able to go back soon. The Monkey Maker made cheese toast for dinner tonight. Cheese. Toast. What kind of dinner is that?! We miss Tria's cooking, watching Misfits, and hanging out with friends. The Monkey Maker misses it a lot too, so hopefully, we'll go back soon!