To me, at least, it does not seem that it would be spamming to link to another G.W. forum in the same system in search of some kind of an answer, like I provided the link below. Don has already outlined what could be a viable business plan, so just some additional thoughts off the top of my head are: Since you have stated that some ancient animal bones have been found by minor digging, would it be a good idea to try to attract the attention of some palentologist. I would consult an attorney first regarding concerns of them turning it into a historical site and tying it up which would be contrary to your goals. The plus side, if any, would be that it would probably attract a lot of free publicity and attention, perhaps buyers or lessors, miners etc. If someone did contract to mine the resources and were willing to set up a bagging operation with migrant workers or mechanically, and assuming the quality meets the test, a contract with Wallmart could absorb many, many bags of "Black Gold" per year. There are some hazzards in dealing with Wallyworld however and once again caution should be exercised with that. Others may have better and more innovative ideas, it is an interesting situation. Please keep us informed on how things go. Good Luck Bill P. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread mentioned above

I understand we need security but some of the crap they take liberties with amazes me. Get to Ireland if you can! Sooo beautiful. Its a real bummer. I haven't found any photos yet. I would really appreciate any shots someone might wish to share. TIA Grancru

I just saw them advertised on TV and they were doing a demonstration and easily cutting through branches making clean cuts every time. Being a skeptic, I wondered if they were careful of what kind of branch they chose, maybe one that is known to make clean cuts easily. I was impressed that at least they are made of stainless steel, and I thought maybe that was a company trying to make a good product. I pull out the lopers when the hand pruners aren't able to do the job, but, I find unless I use leverage across my body, I don't really have the strength to do the job either. Someone who helped me for awhile used a chopping motion and I didn't think that was a good technique. We do a fair amount of pruning on this small property and I wish I did a better job of sharpening, but I'm always disappointed with my results, even after watching YouTube demonstrations. It's frustrating. I love a nice sharp pruning saw, but aren't those harder to sharpen even than pruners?

I can't speak to either of the brands you have selected but I do want to sympathize with your shopping experience. I purchased new sofas this past summer (just recently delivered). It is difficult to get a sense of pricing online. I would go to a good furniture store and see what they can do within your budget. Duane Collie used to post in the GW furniture forum. One brand he highly recommends is Taylor King. I drove 2 hours to a furniture store that supposedly had that brand only to find out they could order it but didn't have anything in the store to sit on. Yes, I should have called first! So DH sat on just about everything they had available. We ended up with another brand (still very nice, 8-way hand tied ...) The store was having a sale, 40% of one item, so even though we bought 2 it helped the budget. Here is Duane's webpage if you want to poke around it The Keeping Room