Buckley

Tom, Ed, Steve, Nancy, and Adriana.

Today was a very special day to meet together with cousins. It has been decades and decades since Tom and Nancy were together during a camping trip to Zion. It was fantastic to be together with Tom and Adriana as well as Nancy and Steve. Who would have guessed that we would meet together at a Log Show in Buckley, Washington??? Life is funny sometimes; however, I absolutely loved being all together!

Suspenders are part of the logger equipment!

This guy was very fast climbing up the log.

There is power in those arms!

The second day of the Log Show did not disappoint. People with the top scores yesterday advanced to the finals today. In addition, there some new events too. As with yesterday, it is simply shocking to see the power these people have to climb, chop, saw, and throw. Amazing skills for sure.

This guy was quite accurate in throwing his ax.

The power as this guy chopped through the wood was amazing. Wood chips fly when his ax connects with the log.

Sawdust flies as they chew through logs.

There was power in the team competition.

The car engines connected to a chain saw were quite impressive. Sawdust flies everywhere and the chain saw mows through a log in just a few seconds. WOW!

This car engine – chainsaw won the competition. In a few seconds it chewed through the entire log.

Sawdust flies everywhere as the car engine – chain saw slices through wood as I would cut paper with scissors. Impressive!

This woman was working very hard with her partner to saw through this log.

The clown is preparing to cool off the crowd.

Ready, set, go and run with a chain saw?? Yup, that is part of the competition.

This upgraded chain saw was impressive!

This is a double chain saw (chain saw engines on both sides) and it quickly chewed through the log.

Powerful strokes way, way up in the air.

80 feet in the air this guy is preparing to saw the log at the top.

One of the funniest events was having people get inside this plastic bubbles and then run around bouncing off each other and falling to the ground. This would clearly be a big event at a family picnic!

These plastic balls were absolutely hilarious! One woman was bounced around and went flying when someone would bump into her.

New events in the Log Show included team competition, climbing out on a log over water to tie a cable, and log rolling. I could complete none of the tasks, but it was amazing to watch other people attempt the tasks.

This was almost impossible. You were supposed to walk to the end of this narrow log (over water), tie a cable around the end, and then walk back off the log. Most people ended up in the water.

This was the first time I have seen log rolling in real life. Most people quickly ended up in the water.

This is the major event for the year in Buckley, Washington.

Today was a wonderful day to experience the culture in the Pacific Northwest. I attended the Buckley Log Show which started with a parade and ended with a series of competitions in chopping and cutting wood.

She is having a great time being in the parade and waving to everyone along the way.

All kinds of vehicles were in the parade.

The parade was fun. It was a hot day, so people loved when they were sprayed with water from the people in the parade. The clowns were especially popular.

It was a hot day, so everyone loved it when the clowns sprayed them with water.

The kids in this float loved spraying people with water.

Some of the competitions were quite scary. Climb on a high pole with only a rope and spikes on your boots, and then have to use both hands to saw through a log on the top of the pole! Very scary!

The log show started with the clown dropping in.

In this competition, people had to climb this large pole and then ring the bell at the top.

I had always heard that you were not supposed to run with scissors. Instead, how about a competition where you run with a chain saw and then run up a log to cut off the end of the log. I would fall for sure.

Because it was hot, everyone loved it when the clown provided air conditioning by spraying them with water.

Ready, set, go! This was the start of one event when the flew off this log.

The Log Show competitions were quite impressive. These were especially strong, talented individuals. I do not think I would do well racing as fast as possible to saw through a large log. In one event, a woman used a handsaw and beat a guy sawing through a log next to her. The women in the audience shouted loudly and the moderator teased the guy that lost. However, I would not have been able to keep up with either one of them.

These guys know how to chop wood! Powerful, fast strokes quickly chop through the logs.

Four teams simultaneously raced to saw through the log.

These guys are THROWING their axes! Didn’t our Mothers tell us not to do this?

Who can use their chain saw to saw through this log the fastest?

The most difficult event was “tree toping” when you have to climb a pole around 60 feet in the air and then cut off the top layer of the log on top. This is an extraordinarily difficult event. Some people tired so much climbing the pole with a rope that they had little energy left to saw the log at the top once they scaled the whole pole.

This is the most difficult event. You must climb all the way to the top and then cut the top off the log at the top. Very scary!

These are powerful people chopping the logs!

However, the event that wowed the crowd the most was watching the modified chain saws slice through wood like butter. In this category, people added V8 car engines to a chain saw. There was large noise and enormous power as these chain saws sliced through the large log. It took 4 people to carry these chain saws to the log and then two people needed to hold it for the actually sawing. It was very impressive!

A car engine is attached to a chain saw!

These guy’s car engine-powered chain saw won the competition!

Fiesta on Wheels

Buckley Log Show Day 2

Buckley Log Show Day 1