Central Texas Tolbert Chili Group

     You did not hear this from us, but one of our Usual Suspects, while posing for a picture after receiving a trophy, sucked it in a little too much (you know a photo adds ten pounds...right?) and woosh - there went the britches! Boxers win over briefs.

     Immediately the Pants on the Ground folks thought our Usual Suspect might be auditioning to join their team. Of course the audience was hooting and hollering too because they thought it was a great idea. After a bit of a struggle, our Usual Suspect yanked the offending pants back up and quickly returned to the audience and resumed a position in the crowd.  Eventually the laughter and teasing settled down and the announcements continued without another hitch.  Too bad this couldn't have happened during showmanship...Our Usual Suspect maybe could have added another trophy to the display case at home.

     We're thinking that our Usual Suspect's Secret Santa needs to drop off a pair of suspenders this year.

     Chili Monitor Ron Faulstich will now be forever known as the Task Master. Taking his job seriously, by discouraging small talk and enforcing the NO CELL PHONE rule, he kept the judges on track and his table finished in record time. After judging was complete and Ron again became "just a regular citizen," he took a lot of ribbing and got a fair share of suggestions, like carrying duct tape just in case he wound up with a table full of non-stop talkers.  Oh my!

     The Fire Department did not show. They were needed elsewhere and had transferred to Camp Swift. The Last Chance Cookoff managed to raise $261.00 for the fire fighters and Debbi Tucker took them some food.

Debbi, hostess and promoter of the Last Chance cookoffs says:
     "I want to thank everyone for going with all the changes and making it a successful cook-off.  It was a wonderful turnout in spite of all the last minute changes.  So much generosity!  We managed to qualify several cooks this weekend too!"