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Anne M. Bracker celebrated her birthday last weekend!!!

    Our story begins on Saturday, February 26th.  Cindy, who was at home with the kids, packed up the brood and headed out to Bracker's, along with a stack of clues for the scavenger hunt that would lead Anne to her present (Bill Bracker, Anne & Cindy's Dad, used to love to create scavenger hunts for them as kids).  When she arrived, Cindy enlisted the crew of Bracker's to help place the clues.  Then came the traditional Bracker's Good Earth Clays, Inc. birthday celebration. (The cake/pie or whatever of the birthday person's choice - in this case caramel brownies and cheesecake-swirl brownies, accompanied by an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday, and a card from the crew and one from Anne W.)  When the brownies were mostly consumed, David mysteriously slipped away while Cindy presented Anne with her first clue:

DON'T BE BLIND TO THE CLUES, and on the back was a big letter A.  After some thought and a little bit of assistance from her sister, Anne figured out that the clue was pointing her to the blinds in her mother's office.  She didn't know what the A on the back was for... 

Attached to the blinds with a paperclip, she found her next clue...

KEEP A LEVEL HEAD, and on the back of this clue was a big letter B. which Anne believed was probably just Cindy's key to remembering the order in which to place them.  She concentrated on the clue and eventually figured out was telling her to go all the way to the back of the building to the dock door with the dock LEVELer. 

Taped to the dock leveler she found her next clue...

TRY NOT TO SLIP AND FALL, and on the back...another B?  Anne kept quiet, thinking her over-stressed and over-tired sister just made a mistake.  This clue, she figured out, was leading her to the Casting SLIP area.

Taped to the largest slip tank, she found her next clue, which warned her that it was about to become more difficult...

DON'T STAND THERE JUST KILLIN' TIME!  and on the back, a big letter C.  (At this point, it was joked about that perhaps Cindy needed a little review course from alomst 2-year old Sophie about the Alphabet.  Things were going exactly as Cindy hoped)  Anne first thought that the clue would be on a clock somewhere in the building.  Eventually, she figured out that the clue when she said it out loud and realized it was referring to her favorite name for a contemporary studio: "Just KIL'N Time"

Taped to the switch box of the kiln, she found her next clue, which declared that Anne was very smart and had been underestimated.

OOPS! it said, and on the back, a big letter O - ?  Why an O?  This clue, which Cindy thought would be very easy, stumped Anne for quite a while.  While she was trying to figure it out, David slipped back in, giving Cindy the sign that everything was in place.  So, Cindy gave Anne a little hint:  Don't look at how it's written, listen to how it sounds.  "Oops... Oops... Oops"  Anne repeated the words until finally, you could almost see the lightbulb go on over her head - "UPS" she exclaimed and ran to the U.P.S. packing & shipping area. 

On the clipboard, she found her last clue, which told her that the letters on the backs of the clues would tell her what her present was, and to sit down in her thinking chair and think.  On the back of this clue was a big letter T.  Anne laid out all the letters:

A      B      B      C      O      T

and it didn't  take her long to figure out what it spelled.  She was presented with the same treasure chest that Bill always used at the end of his treasure hunts, and inside was a set of keys and a note telling her to go to the front door where she saw a bobcat!

Why, a bobcat, you may ask?  Well, about 6 years ago, when our building was being built, Anne M. mentioned how cool she thought it would be to drive all those "nifty construction toys."  That became the seed that was planted in Cindy's head...

When Anne's brithday was nearing, Cindy, being too busy with kids to shop for her VERY hard-to-buy-for sister, remembered Anne's childlike enthusiasm about construction equipment.  That triggered a memory of seeing a sign on a place she drives past almost daily about renting construction equipment.  So, she enlisted the help of her husband, Dave to call the place and find out how to go about renting it.

There was good news and bad news after the phone call.  The good news: They do, indeed rent bobcats.  The bad news was that the cost was going to be way out of their budget.  So Cindy went to her mom and told her the FANTASTIC idea about renting the bobcat (but didn't mention the fantastically high price).  When "Anne the mom" was totally convinced that it would be an awesome present, Cindy broke the news about how the price was too high to make it a reality.  The next day, Mom told Cindy that she would go "halvsies" on it with her, or whatever it would take to make it happen.  There was great rejoicing.

So the plan was set into action.  On Friday, February 25th, the day before Anne's birthday, the bobcat was delivered to the building next door (Bracker's former home) which is rented by 2 great guys who have a windows & doors business that has recently expanded into some contractor work as well.  Anne M wasn't even a bit suspicious.

After a quick lesson from Dave on how to work it, she headed over to the BIG empty field, while Dave drove it over.  "It's definitely the most unusual present I've ever gotten," was Anne's response to Cindy's inquiry as to whether she liked her present.

Anne was a bit nervous about driving the beast at first, but in no time at all, she had the hang of it and was even fixing ruts in the field like a pro.  After about 30 minutes, Anne declared what she had once referred to as unusual as "the best birthday present EVER!!!!"