Setting Up the Totem Pole

A few weeks ago, Perry decided that he wanted to “plant” a hefty tree trunk. He had cut down a large dead tree about a year ago, had salvaged most of it for firewood, burned the slash and then had a lovely thirty foot long trunk left. After skinning off the bark, he had the inspiration to carve it into a totem pole. When our son Andy visited us in March, Perry challenged him to chainsaw a face on the trunk. Actually, Andy carved two faces. Perry then added another. When our son Mike’s family arrived at the end of June, Perry was ready to set the heavy tree trunk upright. With his backhoe he dug a hole for it. Then he and Mike chained the top of the totem pole to the backhoe bucket. We sent the two children to sit in chairs some distance away. Tami and Mely stationed themselves at a distance with their digital movie cameras ready to record the historic event. We even convinced Mike to back away from the tree so that it would not crush him if it fell.

Perry started the backhoe, and Tami and I began to film. Slowly the bucket started to rise, pulling the top of the totem pole up with it. Everything seemed to be going all right, until suddenly the little backhoe was overpowered by the weight of the tree. The smaller front wheels came off the ground. We all gasped in horror! For a moment it seemed that the whole backhoe would flip over its large front wheels and crush Perry under it. Somehow, Perry managed to put down the stabilizers and the loader bucket on the other end. Then he was able to lower the tree trunk slowly to the ground. Whew!