Visitors here the past few days. One of my favorite things to do when we have guests is to trudge down to the bottom of our canyon. Yesterday, we did that. Along the way, I was happy to see a couple piles of bear dung. Those bruins aren't extirpated yet! Despite hostilities from a couple of neighbors (a bear was shot a couple months ago by a family on a different ridge), the bear are still here.
Which leads me to that rascal dog Abbey.
I've been cleaning out our Addition, getting ready to put in a floor. While doing that, Abbey found some garden supplies that I had put within her reach. She investigated and found a bottle that must have delighted her nose. Without me seeing her, she took the bottle as her prize.
So, of course, the place to take this mystery bottle is onto our bed. Because of guests, we are using my favorite sleeping bag for a cover. Abbey plopped herself down on this sleeping bag and managed to chew the cap off the bottle.
Out came the contents: a thick sludge of the most vile, disgusting goo imaginable. This spread across the sleeping bag in a large puddle reminiscent of the Love Canal.
What was in the mystery bottle, you might ask?
Concentrated Fish Emulsion for the garden.
What is the one thing you wouldn't want to have spilled on your favorite sleeping bag in bear country? I had to think long and hard about this---and frankly---I can't think of anything else that would be worse to have spilled on your bag. I don't think I can ever sleep in the backcountry in this sleeping bag ever again. Despite washing the bag, I will never trust that the Fish Emulsion truly washed out. Bears have incredible olfactory systems: my sleeping bag is now bait.
And I'm the Kracker Jack surprise...
Which leads me to that rascal dog Abbey.
I've been cleaning out our Addition, getting ready to put in a floor. While doing that, Abbey found some garden supplies that I had put within her reach. She investigated and found a bottle that must have delighted her nose. Without me seeing her, she took the bottle as her prize.
So, of course, the place to take this mystery bottle is onto our bed. Because of guests, we are using my favorite sleeping bag for a cover. Abbey plopped herself down on this sleeping bag and managed to chew the cap off the bottle.
Out came the contents: a thick sludge of the most vile, disgusting goo imaginable. This spread across the sleeping bag in a large puddle reminiscent of the Love Canal.
What was in the mystery bottle, you might ask?
Concentrated Fish Emulsion for the garden.
What is the one thing you wouldn't want to have spilled on your favorite sleeping bag in bear country? I had to think long and hard about this---and frankly---I can't think of anything else that would be worse to have spilled on your bag. I don't think I can ever sleep in the backcountry in this sleeping bag ever again. Despite washing the bag, I will never trust that the Fish Emulsion truly washed out. Bears have incredible olfactory systems: my sleeping bag is now bait.
And I'm the Kracker Jack surprise...
1 comment:
Did you take that picture?! Those bears are going crazy! So I've been reading your blog for a while now, and I wanted to ask your opinion. I need to get my brother a Christmas gift fast and I was wondering what you think the best camping stoves are. You're so knowledgeable about everything outdoors, I thought you would be a good person to ask.
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