I’m still using words from,

Hounded, Book 1 of The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne.

Hearne’s Druid character, Atticus, speaks a strange–but delightful–combination of  medieval and modern, Irish, French, Latin, and 21 century slang. The book is loaded with wonderful words to look up.

Augur? Not the tool used for ice fishing.

Augur: [Hearne actually used augury, the art of augur.]

Noun. 1. one of a group of ancient Roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs. 2. soothsayer; prophet.
Verb (used with object) 1. to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate. 2. to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken.
Verb (used without object) 1. to conjecture from signs or omens; predict. 2. to be a sign; bode.

New tax laws augur unhappy wealthy people.

Asperity? Not to be confused with austerity.

Asperity: noun 1. harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; severity; acrimony. 2. hardship; difficulty; rigor.  3. roughness of surface; unevenness.  4. something rough or harsh.

 The asperity of his reaction seemed excessive for the situation. 

Cholla: Desert fauna, judging by context.

Cholla: Noun. any of several spiny treelike cacti belonging to the genus Opuntia,  especially O. fulgida  of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, having knobby outgrowths and yellow spines. [Hearne used the word a few times sometimes specifically,  Teddy Bear Cholla]

He detoured from the desert trail to avoid a prickly encounter with a cholla.

Source for definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/