We got pepper sprayed tonight

We stopped by our friends' house tonight to drop off a few things for them to borrow for their camping trip this weekend. They had gone to REI earlier to buy some bear canisters but the store was sold out so instead they got this bear spray, a.k.a. "Counter Assault Bear Deterrent." For some reason our friend was really excited to show us how the bear spray works so he sprayed it into the air in front of him as we stood a few feet away on either side of him. He didn't account for wind currents though and from my vantage point I could see the spray start drifting back towards him....

He starts coughing, I don't think much of it. Until a second later as it started drifting up towards me and I'm like, "Hmm, my mouth and throat are burning a little...OK, now that's really uncomfortable." I rush into the house and rinse out my mouth, having no idea if this is actually the right thing to do but not really caring at the time either. Willy and his mom (yes, his mom was with us), who didn't see the spray cloud from the side they were standing on, proceeded to walk through it. Even our friend's poor dog got a whiff of the stuff and was wheezing! All of us were standing around in their kitchen, in various stages of coughing, tearing up, sniffling, etc. It was all a little hilarious, to be honest, and the wife was laughing uncontrollably, it was just so silly. I have no idea why the husband was so eager to show us this stuff! Boys--go figure!

I luckily was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, but poor Willy was in shorts and a t-shirt and his mom was also in shorts. So now Willy has ice packs attached to his arms and neck trying to calm down the burning sensation, and his mom has Gold Bond medicated powder all over her legs. They aren't kidding when they say in the product description "Use with extreme caution—if not used properly, it can disable the user, rather than the bear"! Now we almost feel bad for the poor bear that might get sprayed by this stuff!