Aug 26, 7:05 AM EDT

Chinese try to get chimp to quit smoking

XI'AN, China (AP) -- The handlers of a smoking chimpanzee in a zoo in northwest China are trying to get her to kick the habit.

The 26-year-old female chimpanzee has been smoking for 15 years. Her mate died recently, which caused her to smoke even more.

Now, the chimp's keepers are worried about her health as a result of her intense smoking. So, they're trying to give her milk instead of cigarettes.

She started smoking years ago by picking up butts from tourists.


© 2005 The Associated Press. All righ


Well, you know, you can teach a monkey to make a sandwich...

I had a busy weekend but managed to spend several hours in my famous telescope chair on the dock, reading, sunning and napping. Dogs were there, napping on the end of the dock in between their visits with my cousins' children's children. That was Saturday and it was wonderful. The water is colder, due to cold nights we've been having, but it was still great for swimming and dunking when my skin got hot.

Friday night I ended up at a friend's camp on Union Falls, one with probably the best view of any camp I've seen. Whiteface, the end of the bluffs, tip of Silver Lake Mountainn bluffs in the distance, Catamount and Douglas. I showed up as a surprise, which thrilled Peter because he's invited me at least 4 times and I've either been unable to come or haven't wanted to come (last time I was in my jammies). I met the people who live in the really nice house about 2 miles down the hardtop and had a nice long talk with them. They were as excited to meet me as I was to meet them, which is such a nice feeling--someone knows of you and wants to meet you. I had a long visit with Dennis, who is the caretaker for the big girls camp at the end of the lake and lives there intermittently in the winter. Linda and Erdvilas were there (which is why I was there, I tagged along with them). There was some strange man who was building a house in the woods for a friend and was living in the house while he was building it. Linda said he had his sights set on me but I must be really out of touch because I didn't notice it at all and I even gave him a ride back to his car later on. I spent the evening trying to figure out where this house of his was being built. Anyway it was really nice to be there and I enjoyed myself a whole lot.

Saturday night I had dinner with my cousins, ones we have avoided being with for the last several years. There sons are now 15 and 12 and are turning out to be very nice people. The parents are actually almost pleasant except I had to sit on the porch with the mother for 45 minutes after dinner, in the dark strugglingg to stay awake while she told me all about the seminars and workshops she attended earlier in the summer, learning how to teach Spanish better and hearing an incredibly detailed description of the project she did comparing male vs. female treatmentt of romantic tales in early Spain. yawn. Anyway they are always very nice to me and very welcoming and I like their sons. Yes, family, faint in surprise, I like those boys now, they are nice.

Sunday dinner was at Linda's and was delicious. It was grilled lamb chops, which I don't normally like, but she had marinated them and they were really good. Fred joined us but Bill was unable to be there. We had a really nice time. I went home, hung out, read a really awful nasty letter from my mother, got depressed and sad, then got invited to dinner by my cousins from across the lake. Nice surprise. They have two children, a 2 year old and an infant. Kelly, the baby, slept the entire time, but Kyle was running around and very busy all evening. I had a good visit with Tom and Sheila, whom I hadn't spent any time with earlier in the summer, and who are good friends.

So, whew! what a weekend. I got next to no housework done. I watched Kevin Costner's The Upside of Anger last night, which wasn't bad but sure wasn't very funny. He's aging well, though.

And now I'm back at work, cataloging Jack Nicholson Cult Classics, a 3-video set that includes the 1961 version of Little Shop of Horrors. Is there someone in Saranac Lake waiting to watch it?