The Big Let Down

A few of you have asked about the prizes at the Chili Cookoff.

What did I win?

Well... it appears the way the chili cookoff was set up, the overall winner isn't the overall winner.

At the start of the cookoff the organizers were bragging they had some great gifts including a $200 gift certificate for Giant Rec World which sells RV parts.

Lots of contestants were happy to hear this! This was held in the campground so we all owned RV's.

Two hundred dollars! Whew hew!

So when I was called last and pronounced to have produced "the best overall" chili, I was ecstatic. Others had won titles of most colorful, most unique, best consistency. As I jumped up to go up to where the other happy winners were standing, I was handed a white envelope.

I thanked everyone with a huge smile plastered on my silly face. Racing through my mind was my RV wish list of things that need repairing and now I had the $200 gift certificate to make this happen. WOW!

Or did I?

Suddenly someone announced, you may open your envelopes now.

My envelope contained a  gift certificate for $10 in ice cream at a store 6 miles from here.

You read that right. Ten dollars in ice cream.

Also a piece of paper was included that read "4".

They pointed to a table and said you get gift 4.

Gift 4 turned out to be 4 solar lights for outdoor use. The box was banged up and seemed to have been wet and then dried out again. I figured it was probably a donated gift from a retailer that couldn't sell it in that condition.

I took it home and put the lights out in the sunshine. Two nights in a row they refused to light up. Then I discovered *gulp* the rechargeable batteries had been removed. The cost of buying batteries to make these work is going to be $18 so that is a no go for me.

No solar lights for me.

While winning the chili cookoff was a fun gratifying achievement I've enjoyed, I must admit the prizes were kind of a let down.

I don't know who got the $200 certificate.

It wasn't me.

Life is goof.

So if your in the neighborhood, stop by. We'll go get ice cream. If you want some solar lights, they're yours. All they need is $18 in batteries.

Amazon Sells Rechargeable Batteries.