Side-view

It was one of those moments of inspiration. I was in Houghton, Michigan and drove by a sign on the side of the road that said: “CHAINSAW CARVINGS.” I thought to myself: “I wonder if the wood carver could and would make me an Abraham Lincoln statue?” Well, only one way to find out! I drove into the business and met Rich Pethtel. He was a friendly guy. His wood carvings of bears and such were placed about the area. Most impressive! So I popped the question. He immediately stated he’d never done a Lincoln before but was quite sure he could! In fact, within just a few moments he said he already had the carving fixed in his mind. Shades of Mozart! I loaned him a Civil War book. It had a couple pictures of Lincoln in it. “Are you sure you can do this?”, I asked. “Oh yea, I can do it.” Well, just a few hours later and there was a call to my cell phone: “I’m done with Lincoln. I think you’re going to like it!”