YETI Presents Tootsie

Tootsie is one of a kind. She's tough as nails. She works like a 35 year old. She's got one gear and that's just about all out. She's always on the go. She's a little fireball. She told me that she'd never really thought about what she wanted to be when she grew up, but that being a cowboy might suit her. She wore blue jeans to school every day. Girls didn't wear blue jeans to school every day then, but she did. She rode her horse from her home to the road, got on the school bus, came to school, went home, got back on that horse, and I'm sure that she had lots of chores to do when she got back to that house. They worked for what they had, and that's values that are lost today. I have gotten office soft being in this office all the time, and Tootsie is the exact opposite of that. She's one of the hardest working people I know, and I know a lot of good hard working people. You can't hook her up wrong. You lead her in the right direction and she can do it. There's lots of men today that can't keep up with her. 80 years old and she's still going strong, so I don't see Tootsie slowing down anytime soon. Tootsie's a custodian in Giddings, and she works at that five days a week. Then she does this coming down here to Snow's Barbecue at I don't know what time in the morning. She gets here two o'clock in the morning and she hits it all day. An 80 year old woman gets up at midnight to start fires and works all day long and thinks nothing of it. To us it is a huge deal. To her, just everyday life. Barbecue is king and everyone wants to say that their local city meat market or their local pitmaster has the best barbecue, but here in Lee County we really do think we have the best barbecue in Texas. Tootsie, she's our secret weapon. Miss Tootsie was the reason I opened. We've been open since March of 2003 and in that time frame she's missed a week or two. She does things today at 80 years old that not many people will do. I remember as a kid seeing her in the meat market throw a quarter side of beef over her shoulder and pack it out. That's about 150 pounds. 60 to 150 pound shoulders. 150 to 200 pounds, throw it on her shoulder and carry it wherever it needed to go. Like oh my gosh, how's this woman lifting this stuff? She's stronger than probably you. I have not seen a woman pitmaster in any of the barbecue restaurants that have ever made their magazine. In 2008 when Texas Monthly said this is the best barbecue in the state, which to me makes it the best barbecue in the nation, that's when Tootsie hit it big. Snows is one of the most popular barbecue places in the United States. It's a long line. On Saturday mornings at Snows, if you're not there early, ready to eat barbecue for breakfast, you're not getting any barbecue. There's people from all over the world every Saturday. All these people come to see her and she makes everybody smile. It's very rewarding to see her get recognized for something she's done for 40 years just you know every day. It's really pretty special to run across somebody that cares that much and is that good at what they do and just keeps working no matter what. I mean work ethic is pretty hard to come by these days and you know that's really what it takes to pull off what she's done. She pretty much made Texas barbecue what it is right now. When I retired, I was very ready to be lazy but I don't think Tootsie has a lazy bone in her body like I do. I don't know that she'll ever retire. I mean retirement for her will be working three days a week. She'll work till the day she just they may close the lid on her. Work is what she was taught and work is what she continues to do. It could be that I enjoy barbecuing because it is hard work. I probably can't lift as much as I used to but I don't use the phrase I can't. That's just not my vocabulary.