The Baboon Congress

The Troupe

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Header photo by Tambako the Jaguar via Flickr
Today’s post comes from Sherrilee

As the emails fly back and forth this week about straw bales and manure, I’m reminded again about what a wonderful community has sprung up here. When we first started hitting the trail, some of us were immigrants from the Trial Balloon blog; we were fans of Radio Heartland and before that the LGMS (Late Great Morning Show).

As the months and years have gone by, we’ve lost some and gained some. We’ve written more as Dale has amped up his activity in other areas. We’ve developed some verbiage of our own and the days we talk about food, books and music are usually run-aways.

But what I love most about this group is its spirit of community. Here just SOME of the things that we’ve done over the years:

  • When a baboon needed help around the house, a couple of us showed up to do some chores.
  • When another baboon was in a car accident, a dozen of the troupe showed up to do spring gardening at her house.
  • When a HUGE tree fell over during a storm at someone’s house, we had chain saw party and got the tree chopped up and hauled away.
  • When one of our own was in an ice cream development contest, we all voted and when she won, we had an ice cream social to toast her victory.
  • When a baboon’s child was needing some help with math, another of us tutored her.
  • When a baboon’s husband was traveling west for a project, another baboon offered her home for part of his stay.
  • A kitten became part of another baboon’s family after being found on the farm of another baboon.
  • We started a book club. Meets every 2 months and still going strong.
  • When a founding member decided to move to the West Coast, several baboons helped get everything sorted for the estate sale and then helped pack up what needed to go to Portland.
  • We’ve had more than one “plant” transfer – plants from one baboon home being transplanted to another baboon home.
  • One baboon has given heirloom seeds to others in the troupe (and also provided multiple gardening tips over the years).
  • Carpooling to various baboon fetes has been arranged

I’m absolutely sure that I’m missing quite a few interactions between baboons over the years and I’m not even including all the various social engagements and field trips that we’ve organized.

Although we are a social group most often convened in virtual space, we may still be a worthy subject for study by some enterprising anthropologist. Just as Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees in the wild, someone with a grant to document the behavior of Internet baboons would find plenty to write about here.

Goodall’s groundbreaking book carried the rather dry title “The Chimpanzees of Gombe – Patterns of Behavior.”

What title would you give a scholarly study of the Trail Baboons?

62 thoughts on “The Troupe”

  3. Here’s another item for Sherrilee’s list. When a toddler made a three-day visit to his grandfather’s home, several members of the group loaned toys (doll house, rocking horse, stuffed toys, dolls) to amuse the kid.

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  11. Nice job, vs. Minor detail, though, the baboon who was the recipient of the spring gardening party was not injured in a car crash. Rather, she simply stumbled on a nightly run to the bathroom.

    A fond memory from the gardening event: Lisa showing up in her long green dress. What a hoot.

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    1. Sorry PJ – I thought there was a car involved. Oh well – baboons aren’t known for their good memories, are they??

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    2. You’d think that since I’ve been a major recipient of this, I would remember to write it down. On my spreadsheet I now have TBB, BBC, Clyde or Bill listed in the “where I got the idea” column!

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    3. And film recommendations. I’m working my way through some from the last go round. So far we’ve seen Cold Comfort Farm recommended by Bill, and the Japanese Story recommended by Steve. Liked them both.

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      2. I had read Cold Comfort Farm but the movie was actually much more charming! I just had it from the library a couple of weeks back thanks to baboons. Right now I’m binge-watching my way through the Miss Fisher Mysteries.

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  13. OT: I got a call from Wells Fargo yesterday. My account information with them “has been compromised.” I have done nothing that could explain identity theft. The bank is too proud to say so, but the leak was on their end.

    This is another reminder of the price we pay for so many conveniences these days. “To err is human, but if you REALLY want to screw up use a computer.”

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      1. They didn’t want to tell me how this breach happened. But my daughter, who also banks with them, got the same call two days ago.

        I doubt this happened while buying gas. I only buy gas four times a year.

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    3. As I recall, you’ve had that issue before, and it turned out to be a credit card that had somehow been compromised.

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      2. I did, PJ, and it turned out to be extremely embarrassing to Wells Fargo. Somebody called them to say he’d lost his card. Would they issue a duplicate? Sure! They sent him a card. They didn’t notice he had them mail it to a Boston address. I’ve never been in Boston. That guy had $3000 of fun with a duplicate of my card. One Wells Fargo employee even told me this guy had worked the same con on WF before.

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    4. Also, and I’m sure you’ve already checked this, be very sure that it’s actually the bank that called. I’ve gotten calls that soundlegitimate, but they’re not really from the bank. Or they sound like they are about a genuine problem – but they’re not. I think whoever does these scam calls are getting smarter about what they say and how they say it, so it’s harder for the people receiving the call to discern that it’s not legitimate.

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        2. When my tax files at my accountant’s were breached, the firm, owned by one of my closest friends, was a legal instrument in which he avoided claiming any fault, having any responsibility, making any apology, or offering any help. I am sure the letter was written by their lawyers. I tired to call him to see how he was doing, but they would not put me through. Just look what the pharisees, scribes, and CPA’s have done to us. Friendship be damned.

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        4. My guess, ljb, is that they are embarrassed. Somehow their security has been breached. They could say, “Someone defeated our security measures.” But they prefer to say, “Your account data has been compromised.”

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      3. I think that CB was asking what “compromised” in your case means. Have there been suspicious charges on your credit card, or has your savings or checking accounts been drained? I think there’s a huge difference between what “compromised” means as a result of a computer being hacked, or someone gaining access to your individual account information by whatever means. Hackers are getting extremely sophisticated (but aren’t necessarily crooks), and then there are those who are crooks whose sole purpose of ID theft is always personal gain.

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  14. An obscure one: one Baboon alerted another Baboon to the opportunity to sing Carmina Burana. Two Baboons went to the concert.
    And another Baboon used her knowledge of Danish and Denmark to take a few of us on a tour at the Swedish Institute of the fascinating paper cutting exhibit.

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  17. OT or PSA – depending on how you look at it. There are two concerts coming up that I want to alert Twin Cities baboons to.

    Tomorrow night, David Francey is performing at the Ginkgo Coffee House in St. Paul. Francey is an incredibly gifted singer/songwriter (but not a good instrumentalist – therefore he travels and performs with gifted musicians). This should be a terrific show. Tickets are $30.00 plus tax.

    Another great concert is Friday of the following week at the Celtic Connection. John Doyle is a fabulous guitarist and wonderful singer, some traditional and some of his own creation. Tickets are $17.00, a bargain.

    I plan to go to both of these shows. Care to join me?

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    2. i missed one and have rescheduled iris dement tickets for the other but please keep your alerts up when they come. i enjoy your musical taste

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  18. Oh, I just thought of another one… the baboon who invited another baboon up to her farm and taught her to make cheese!!

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  19. And speaking of baboon gatherings, don’t forget that this Sunday is Blevin’s Book Club:
    Occasional Caroline’s,
    2 p.m.
    Let The Great World Spin (Colum McCann)
    &
    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)

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