"Time to leave and quickly. So I grabbed the half dozen corn stalks I'd managed to excavate from the ground, threw them in the trunk and scooted away."

Careful! You might get branded the "Corn Stalker" .... or headlines might read.. man makes off with families ears and they were never heard from again.... or Police looking for a kernel of evidence to find thief.....or Thanksgiving sadly has become Thankstaking. But from the mining perspective you probably could have used a couple of Corn Bores to get those stalks out!

Yuk yuk yuk!

Hope they look lovely in your entrance.....I'll never tell....unless the reward is more NOT shares!