Gnome on the range

n a small town, anything out of the ordinary is big news.
Those traveling along Highway 68 through Taunton this past weekend noticed a man on a stepladder using a chainsaw to carve a large six-foot high stump from a cottonwood tree on the Phil and Marge Breyfogle home.
Several people notified the Mascot to spread the news.
The Breyfogles had the tree cut down by a service in Canby. Their son-in-law, Lee Jacobs, asked that six feet of the tree remain so he could carve it into an oversized garden gnome.
He completed the cutting this past weekend, producing a nifty gnome that his wife, Delores, and her sister Phyllis will paint. Lee and Delores live in the Twin Cities area.
"It took me about eight hours," said Jacobs about the carving. "It wouldn't have taken that long but my chainsaw was too small. The bar on the chainsaw is 16 inches and the circumference of the tree is about 32 inches."
Jacobs has used his chainsaw to make around 12 pieces so far.
"I used to live in Becker and we had a tree cut down in our yard," he explained about the start of his craft. "I didn't have a stump grinder, so I decided make something out of it instead. I think my first one was a mushroom because they are the easiest to make."
He later went on Google and found a "neat looking" peace sign and decided to try and make it on another tree stump.
"It turned out really nice," he said. "It's my favorite piece I've done so far."
Jacobs made a throne out of a tree stump on the Breyfogle property a few years ago, but it eventually succumbed to the elements.
Now there is a replacement standing out in the garden in the back yard.
"We like how it turned out," said Marjorie. "He did a nice job."