re: #65 reine.de.tout

Heh.
My great-great-grandfather, when he arrived in this country from Germany, ended up in New Orleans, where he bought a piece of land on the river, and purchased the rafts that were used to ship stuff downriver, then he sold the wood for building purposes.

He coulda made a business out of what you describe.

And when he died, his wife, who was much younger tha he was, not wishing to run the lumber yard, moved to Covington, LA and with her sons, built the “Seiler Building” in 1906, a historic landmark that at the time was a state-of-the art prominent saloon, cafe and oyster bars in St. Tammany Parish. Of note were the massive solid mahogany bars and counters throughout this fine example of turn of the century urban architecture. It, alas, burned down in 1998, but has been restored and now has a new life.