New to Gimp, Cut/Clone question

["willbritt2001" <willbritt2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

  Hello everyone, this is Bill. I am just an average home WinXP PC user,
I've never done anything with photos outside of Microsoft Paint. I have
been hunting for a simple program to do more with home family photos and
found the Gimp website but have not downloaded it yet.

What I am trying to do, to see if Gimp can do, is cut out unwanted parts
of photos then blend in the background. I have studied some pages at
http://docs.gimp.org/en/ <http://docs.gimp.org/en/>  , specifically 1.5.
Removing Unwanted Objects from an Image 
<http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-imaging-photos.html#gimp-using-photography\
-retouching>  , Lasso and Magic Wand tools, but I am not yet clear on
selecting the borders of the cutout. Can Magic Wand automatically select
an area of contrast to remove? I think I can figure out filling in the
background afterwards.

I will now try to upload an example section of a photo called
'beaveredit' and ask, for instance, can the 'hand' be removed?

I have also been looking at the Adobe Photoshop Elements but that is
such a HUGE program and too expensive for what little editing I want to
do.

Thanks