By the time August rolls around, some of us are coming close to scraping the bottom of our summer entertainment idea barrels.

If you’re in this boat, don’t despair, for I have come to the rescue with a special summer contest just for you. There is even a fabulous prize for the winner. Read on.

Here is the challenge: Put together as many words as you can from the letters in “Pleasant Hill.” You may use the letters as many times as they actually appear in “Pleasant Hill” to come up with your word list. For example, in order to be acceptable, a word may have only one “e”, but may use the letter “a” twice and contain as many as three of the letter “l”. Sorry, but there are further rules.

Each word must have at least three letters, so no “as” or “in”. Your list may not include words from George Carlin’s “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” skit. Your words must be “real” words – no cheating with weird made-up spellings like “easi” or “tean.” I was not born yesterday and will not be fooled.

The official dictionary of the Pleasant Hill Summer Word Contest is online at mydictionary.com. If you’re not sure about one or more of your words, go to the website and type it into the search bar at the top to check.

It would be helpful, but not mandatory, to alphabetize your list or at least group words by initial letter so it’s easier for me to check for (don’t even think about trying to get away with it) duplicates.

Is this contest thrilling? Well, not really, but it is inexpensive (free!) and probably will not cause heatstroke, an issue with many activities this time of year. As yet another plus, it might jumpstart the brains of you and your family members after what may have been an extended period of reduced activity.

I will award the winner – the individual or group whose list contains the most acceptable words (see rules above) – a $50 gift card to Borders. Woo Hoo! (see headline above).

Your entries must be received by August 20, 2010. In the unlikely event of a tie, one name from among the longest-list-submitters will be randomly drawn from an official paper bag with witnesses present.

So what are you waiting for? To get you started, I’m going to give you two words as freebies – “pleasant” and “hill.” You’re welcome.

Please e-mail questions, comments and/or your contest entries to julieakross@comcast.net. P.S. I have more than 70 words so far.

Don’t let me win my own gift card back.