15ft Viking sculpture created from dying tree by Merrifield family to address safety risk.

Merrifield family turns dying tree into a 15ft Viking sculpture: Couple Peter Bachman and Janet Rice hired artist Nick Kelley to carve their dying white pine into a life-sized Viking on water skis, transforming a potentially dangerous tree stump into an artistic addition to their property. The tree, one of Crow Wing County's oldest, could have posed a threat to their cabin had it fallen.