Bear Crackers

So friends, as you know, I've been in the wilds of Montana camping. Actually, because it's so cold we're staying at a campground where there is a Payless Shoes disturbingly close by, so I guess we're not exactly roughing it!! But I digress from my story!

A day and a half ago we did laundry and around that time I started to smell fish. Now we had fish in our cooler so I didn't think so much about it, and it was a subtle enough aroma . . . at first. But we are in Grizzly country and I must admit I was just a wee bit worried about a possible encounter in the wild with these gorgeous but deadly critters (as some of you may know, I spent a summer in the Arctic years ago and saw polar bears from far, far away -- and that was just close enough!). I've been trying to be an intrepid camper, put off by nothing, but the thought of a bear nosing its way into our campground and bothering our pups has been worrying me a bit. So when I began to think I was smelling fish, well, it didn't ease my anxiety any!

And the smell didn't seem to get any better! Karen didn't seem to notice the smell, but I felt as if I were swimming in fish!! We finally decided to throw away the salmon just in case it had gone bad. Too bad, as it looked like it would have been mighty tasty, but the car seemed kind of stinky! Even out of the car, however, as we sat in a local diner, all I could smell was FISH! I put the sleeve of my polar fleece shirt up to my nose and, sure enough . . . FISH! I smelled like FISH!

"I'm a BEAR CRACKER!" I cried. "Bears will take one whiff and they'll come a running for their little salmon snack!" It was only a little while later that Karen realized why exactly it was that I, in my newly laundered clothes, smelled so much like FISH. It seems that SOMEONE forgot to take her fish oil pill out of her pants pocket when she put said pair of pants into the laundry with the rest of the clothes. And so it was not the poor salmon fillet that was causing the stink, but instead a tiny little fish oil capsule that violated an entire load of laundry and made me smell like a tasty bear treat.

And can I tell you, my friends, just how much fun it is to get fish oil aroma out of polar fleece?! We are about to approach our third attempt at washing, this time with baking soda and a 2 cups of white vinegar. Fingers crossed everyone! Otherwise, we're not going anywhere beyond the town limits in these clothes!

And yes, I realize the photo above is of Nutter Butters, but you have to be resourceful when out in in the great wild woods of Montana!