Published on

September 19, 2022

Survival games on norrkullalandet island sipoo

First aid rehearsals to support a broken leg bone

How to build a fishing pole?

How to make fire and boil water?

Water? I prefer beer

Published on

September 13, 2022

Survival games at Kuusijärvi

Survival games do include first aid rehearsals

First aid rehearsals: prepare for a support for a broken bone

I really would like to see him walking with that packet

Survival against the weather conditions: build a rain and wind shelter

Shelter ready!

Published on

September 5, 2022

Tour to western estonia

We were curious on finding out what kind of lighthouses are on the western coastline of Estonia. So we boarded us to a freight ship at Vuosaari in Finland and sailed to the Muuga harbour in Estonia.

Waiting for the car queue to get into the FinnLines ferry

Haapsalu town has an old bishop's castle

Old bishop's hat

Bishop's castle in Haapsalu town

Rather frightening illustration of the hell and the destiny of sinners

The coastline waters of Haapsalu are very shallow and on certain stormy winds from south the water level may rise several meters.

Keskmise teelehe (what? A Jahubanaan? Soikkoratamo)

Soikkoratamo plant lives here on wild

Murakas, a Blackberry or Karhunvatukka

It looks like a pizza but it is not. In local restaurant we had something for the night

... and a terribly fat bulldog was begging under the restaurant table

Haapsalu used to be a spa city for CCCP tourists during the soviet occupation. Now all the trains in old railway station are rusting

Then it was the time to start ferry journey to Hiiumaa island from Rohukyla.

Estonian language sounds the same as Finnish... Älä viskaa roskia toilettipottaan

Long and narrow sandpeninsula Orjaku Saar

And finally we reached the end of the peninsula... I really thought about going for a swim

Kõpu Tuletorni - one of the oldest lighthouses in the Baltic

Ristna lighthouse

Old Soviet tower that was used for far-sighting to the Baltic Sea

Soviets were really afraid of being attacked by someone - Germany? Sweden?
The same Peter the Great's coastal fortress can also be found in Helsinki: Krepost Sveaborg, Suomenlinna

Old Soviet abandoned military sites facing to the Baltic

Viinaköök, the moonshine spirit factory, nowadays a hostel owned by a Finn

Old Soviet nuclear powered lighthouse - hopefully the Beta-M radioisotope themoelectric generator (RTG) has been removed...

Tahkuna Tuletorn, another lighthouse lighting the Baltic

Tahkuna Tuletorn

Back to the mainland, Rohukyla Tooraku accomodation. We were the only visitors at that late autumn time

After leaving Rohukula, we spotted an old Soviet fighter plane military base

Beside the road to Tallinn, we saw also an old ruin of a manor house

Back in Tallinn, we visited art museum KuMu (KunstMuseum). A painting by Estonian artist Lembit Sarapuu

A painting by Estonian artist Lembit Sarapuu in Kumu museum

the greatest happiness is to grow up and learn at the neukkula school - yeah, right

Our happiness is guarded by neukkula army - oh shit, what a lie

Neukkula army - oh shit, what a lie

"We are on the side of peace and guard it" - oh shit, what a lie again

"The atom bomb is not a secret any more"

And the other side of the coin of the happiness - thousands of Estonian people were seized and tortured in soviet prisons, deported to Siberia without any possibility to get back home. This is the way of peace the russians are providing

A door in the Patarei prison

"Do not believe provocative things you hear and REVEAL the whisperers and gossipers!"

Mr H: "The scum of the earth, I believe" and mr S: "The bloody assassin of the workers I presium"

Unfortunately I am not able to read kyrillic...

Poster of Lev Trotsky, the creator of the Red Army, who repels the invasion of the Poles and opens the way for the revolution to spread to the West

"we will destroy the kulak as a class"

Published on

August 24, 2022

Siemens Action day 2022 at pohjoinen pirtti in nuuksio

Siemens company personnel wanted to have something other type of activity than the normal canoeing on a lake. We proposed them "how about if your team builds an insect nest" - that sounded funny and different, so it was accepted.
The activity was provided at Pohjoinen Pirtti in Nuuksio National Park.

"but I have never had a hammer in my hand!"

Insect nest parts had been ready-done, so it was easy to just bang them together

And these are some of the results!

Published on

August 2, 2022

Airplane museum in vantaa

Near Helsinki-Vantaa airport is a nice museum for the airplane history.

A wood constructed rehearse-glider from Germany. In Finland, the same kind of glider had a nickname "Harakka", a Magpie.
​I am lucky enough to be able to say like mr. Edu Kettunen "I was the son a pilot (minä olin lentäjän poika) as my father (1929-2022) had flied this kind of planes when young at Jämijärvi.

Rehearsal glider built in the Netherlands, D.F.S. 108 -14 Schulgleiter SG-38.
​On the background Swedish Saab Draken.

On the yard of the museum can be found a rotating lighthouse lamp

Published on

July 24, 2022

traveler rating 24.7.2022 tour

The tour to Helsinki Highlights and Suomenlinna Unesco World Heritage site was an enormous experience! 
The weather was warm and our host Arja provided us a tour to Suomenlinna fortress, guiding us professionally.

Published on

July 17, 2022

housing fair in naantali

The Finnish Housing Fair  for year 2022 were held in Naantali town, near Turku. We spent one day there.

 It's July, but weather in Salo is chilly.

 Naantali housing fair was built near sea shoreline, into a pine forest.

It may take some years until the nature restores it's normal state

One of our interests was to find a solution for our summer cottage fire site

JukkaTalo's Taukonuotio (do not bother to try to buy this, JukkaTalo went to bankrupty)

Trying to save the insects with this kind of "nests"

After Naantali, we drove to Turku town. On the old prison area "Kakolanmäki" you can find a short train lifting you up to the yard from the street.

This train uphill has suffered from bad quality and malfunctions

Turku town had not protected the Funikular guiding displays, so some pranksters had found the net address and hijacked them. Nowadays this has been repaired.

Published on

July 10, 2022

lighthouse tour to orrengrund

On this beautiful morning we headed to Kotka town, to find a boat service to reach Orrengrund island.

Orrengrund island is located on this map on the left side inside green form

We boarded a nice boat named "Nestori" in Sapokka harbour.

Kaunissaari kaivaten sua täällä muistelen - a song done by Juha Vainio about this beautiful island "Kaunissaari"

Small lighthouse found in the harbour of Kaunissaari island

​Baltic Herrings a delicious freshly smoked. This is the oven taht is used to smoke the fish.

Smoke oven from inside. The herrings are placed into steel rods through their heads, so that the dripping grease drops down.

 Before you place the herring into the rods, you need to remove the inner guts of them.

 ​Arriving to Orrengrund island

Another type of smoke oven.

Orrengrund island's old lighthouse which is actually not a lighthouse, only so called "pooki" - a tower that can be seen from the sea.

On the cliffs of Orrengrund can be found wild grass-onion flowers​.

 Climbing up inside the Orrengrund tower

Looking out from the windows 

Old military constructions

 At orrengrund cliffs 

Dry skin of a snake (probably a grass snake, natrix natrix)

 All good things end someday... so we had to start going back to Kotka harbour

 A memorial stone for one of the best songwriters in Finland: Mr Juhani "Junnu" Vainio spent part of his life in Kotka area and wrote songs that we all remember. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQYIff6o12o

Published on

July 1, 2022

planning for the insect-hotel

I got a order to prepare for an event to let our customers to build insect hotels.
​An insect-hotel idea was launched with a slogan "save the buzzers - pelasta pörriäinen"

So first I had to think about what shall I put inside the hotel? This large-tubed straw grows on the wetlands, and can have special insect inside

Osmankäämiyökkönen lays it's eggs on the leafs and lets their worms to eat themself inside this plant. After the pupa boxes are ready, the insect bites it's way out.  Photo: https://www.suomen-perhoset.fi/osmankaamiyokkonen/

But before the build phase can be started, you will need good plans for the insect hotel

Also the tools need to be cheap and handy

I got some nice pieces of plywood from my friend Mataku

After pilot build is nearly ready, it needs to have the internal stuff dried and cut into pieces.

After filling, it will need the zinc-coated steel net in front

Published on

July 1, 2022

old glass-fiber boat repairs

This old boat was heritaged to me from my father. He had bought it with his own father 1979 at Kangasala, to be able to go fishing. 
As time goes by and the boat has been stored outside, the plywood inside the motor support backplate had rotten and broke. I had to start repair work by opening the glassfibers and crack all of the old plywood away.

Softened plywood