fun in glacier

Last week, Bird and I went camping in Glacier for a few days. Upon arrival, we set up camp and headed out for a hike. The hike was in Griz Country, so I was on alert. Fortunately, we did not come across any bears on the trail, although there was a tree stump that put a good scare in us. When we got back to camp, we noticed a bunch of people crowded around our campsite. They couldn't all be gathered for a deer, could they? No. Oh no. They were crowded around for a bear. Yep, that's right. A bear was milling around my tent and the tents of the people in the next site over. By the time Bird and I got to our site, the bear had moved off into the woods, away from all the people and commotion. I caught a glimpse of him, and he appeared big. Of course, any bear near your tent will appear big.

The Forest Ranger came and shoo-ed him off. Apparently, the bear was a sub-adult black bear. He comes around this camp ground often, but has never gotten into people food/trash or bothered anyone. Surprisingly, I was not freaked out, and felt confident I would sleep through the night.

As I was cleaning up dinner, I told Bird that the ranger said to wash our dishes at our site, but to use the dump-sink for our drippings. I told her this as I was heating water in our chili bowl so I could better clean it. The bowl sat atop my trusty pocket-rocket stove, and as I'm saying "we just have to be sure not to spill any of our drippings," what do I do? Why I knock over the bowl of chili water all over the table and ground. Seriously. Now, for those of you who have witnessed my klutziness, this may come as no surprise. It did not seem to faze Bird. I, however, was freaking out that there was now chili all over the ground of our campsite. A campsite visited by a bear not 2 hours earlier! I thought about moving camp, but instead just removed any dirt that was anywhere near the spillage, and called it good. Needless to say, the bear did not come back to eat the chili or me.

The next day we saw another bear (on the side of the road on our way to a hike). Bears are awesome, but I'd rather they not be near my tent.

word of the week!

We had some good words this week! Thanks to everyone who submitted a word or two. Normally I delve into the provenance of words, but as I am using a computer at the local coffee shop, and there are other patrons waiting to use the computer, I wasn't able to do that. Still, I think I have enough information to pick the best word out of the bunch!

The words:

• celerity (n) rapidity of motion or action
• exanimate (adj) lacking animation; being or appearing lifeless
• fulminate (v) to utter or send out with denunciation; to send forth censures or invectives
  (n) an often explosive salt (as mercury fulminate) containing the group −CNO
• idiopathic (adj) arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause; peculiar to the individual
• librate (v) determine the weight of; vibrate before coming to a total rest
• patulous (adj) spreading widely from a center
• scholium (n) a marginal annotation or comment (as on the text of a classic by an early grammarian); a remark or observation subjoined but not essential to a demonstration or a train of reasoning
• solipsism (n) a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing; also : extreme egocentrism

And the word of the week is:

solipsism!

This blog post brought to you by a bleated Wordy Wednesday and Merriam Webster online.

Word Box!

It's time, once again, for the...

The word box will be open until Tuesday, July 17 at 10 a.m.
Happy Wording!

pet peeve(s)

People who water their lawns
People who water their lawns during the day
People who water their lawns during the hottest part if the day