Harley Qvistvig needed a new pigpen. He was an old Norwegian,
who had learned the fine craft of woodworking from his immigrant grandfather who came to Minnesota from the Old Country in
1883. He cut the logs and began to hew them. But he threw out his back one day and needed help. So he went
over to see his neighbor, Ole Sveirud. He talked him into helping out, "Yeah, Ole, shaving logs for the pigpen
will be lots of fun."
On the way home,
he stopped by Sven's place and said, "Hey, Sven, you wanna have some fun then?" Now he had Ole and Sven working
on the logs and he went to town to get his brother Miles, who was a big-shot working in the bank. "Hey, there,
Miles, you wanna have some fun? Just come over after work and you'll find out how much fun you can have hewing my logs
for the pigpen."
On the way out of town
he stopped by his brother-in-law Emile's garage. "Hey, Emile come over tonight and join in on the fun. Just bring your
ax."
By dark, they had the darned thing done.
It was more like a pig-house than a pigpen, almost good enough to sleep in. Miles even painted it a weathered gray to
make it look like the pigpens back in Norway. And all the while they were laughing and talking and telling jokes and
just having a heck of a good time. Sven said, "Yeah, she looks pretty good. When are
we gonna eat then?"
