35 - lately i've been learning about arcade machines. how they work, how to fix them, etc. Ive fixed two so far back to perfect working order. My next project is a small repair on a EM(electro mechanical) pinball machine from the 70s, kinda of excited about it.

i live on the other side of the mountains, its usually nice an sunny over here for most of winter, but much colder. We also have much hotter summers and forest fires in the late summer, but hey, no grey gloom.

this is funny because a solid ten weeks last summer was a grey gloom caused by forest fires, at least as viewed in kittitas and yakima counties.

can you cite any sources of where control of large tracts of land were seized simply due to a road or trail crossing them? i would be interested to read the cases.

hunters originally only wanted to 'preserve' what they wanted to kill... otherwise we'd still have wolves, grizzlies, and other predators of all sizes, at their historic populations. likewise, certain hunters favorites wouldn't be dealing with population issues now. the ranchers have done the most harm though, they seem to want to kill everything, imo.

Ironically one of the consequences of strict laws protecting endangered species is it actually leads to more destruction not less. A rancher notices a protected animal on his land and gets rid of it to avoid getting harangued by the government. "Shoot, Shovel and Shutup"

Not entirely. In practice, the net result is that hunters want to preserve habitat. The large predator species that you mention require a huge range. It is the fragmentation of habitat that has done them in as much as anything else.

they cant even catch people breaking into hundreds of cars a year at popular trail heads... under staffing is a PITA.

this is my understanding of easements and closed roads too... a rancher bought some land near my home that has a trail crossing it to public lands that are encompassed by private land. he pulled a weapon on me and was investigated for brandishing and was set straight about his approach to dealing with people using public access, since it was there when he bought the land and it was well known.

ranchers can carry guns, but so can just about anyone else out west.

some folks i know just take the misleading no trespassing signs down. i've also seen where people attach them to trees surrounding good public hunting too, to prevent others from getting their trophies.

I live in the semi rural west and know many ranchers, family owns a few... i don't know of a single rancher who has been prevented from doing upkeep on roads across their own land that they allow easement to. only issues i know of are if you block a salmon stream, big no no in washington. also, people will vandalize just about anything, the assertion that they do it because its federal might be a bit off, IMO.

i had a run in with a rancher who pulled a gun on me for using public easement he was quickly visited by the local sheriff and had his ideals corrected.

the pay isn't particularly great in adult anymore, the parties aren't as fun either.

there used to be a couple agencies but they appear to have closed down over the years, just checked their websites.

if you really want to work in the space, just visit some of the links in their footers. you'll start finding out who the parent companies are and how to contact them.

been on both sides of that one. :)

this has been going on as long as paypal has been around. i never allow anyone to send more then a $1k to my paypal, everything larger than that gets check or wire. First time i got a $5k wire, they locked me out and held my monies for 90 days.... doesnt really help a growing business to have money locked. this was in 2002.