TravelStream™ news feed for member yehaww on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/yehaww en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:15:45 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1173208680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1173208680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1173208680/tpod.html Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:15:45 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Gothenburg, Sweden

We had one last weekend in Gothenburg. It's hard to believe we're done working, it all went by so fast. We spent Friday night with Chris's cousins Leena and Sara and some of their friends and were joined later by Monica, who we had met the previous weekend. Everyone's been very cool. We were going to check out some castles on Saturday, but due to Friday night's adventures, everyone opted to sleep instead. Leena and Sara's mother invited us all over for dinner, so we headed out into the suburbs of Gothenburg and had a nice evening there. Afterwords, everyone was still feeling a little tired, so we headed back. I spent the evening with Monica.

Sunday morning it was time to pack up ad head back to Hyltebruk. We stopped off to buy some souvenirs and some more shrimp and then headed home.

Monday morning we were on the road by 5 am to get to the airport. I think I walked in my front door in Los Angeles about 19 hours later.

You can see all my photos from this trip here.
http://crimmel.smugmug.com/gallery/2550973#134169908


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172783760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172783760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172783760/tpod.html Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:11:59 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hytlebruk, Sweden

Today was our last day of work. The first half was spent repairing some wiring for the remote control to one of the tractor winches. Repairing tractors is a big part of this job. These things go over some pretty crazy terrain and each of them has all kinds of hydraulic hoses and cables hanging off the back, so inevitably, when driving over stumps and rocks, cables are bound to get yanked and ripped. So we fixed up the wiring and headed out into the rain. Work was halted a few hours in because the tractor I was with broke it's winch and without that, we're kind of screwed. So Jonas drove it back to the shop to repair and my day was complete. As I was walking home, I noticed my shadow in front of me. I looked behind me and saw the sun for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, I think. I grabbed my camera and took some more photos. Everything has been pretty grey and dreary so far, now with the sun popping out for a few minutes at a time, I was able to get some different photos. The moon was even visible, nearly full.

Tomorrow we head back in to Gotenburg for one last weekend, then I'm flying back on Monday morning.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172695380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172695380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172695380/tpod.html Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:56:18 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hyltebruk, Sweden

Due to a mysterious food poisoning situation, we had most of the day off. I wasn't affected. It snowed most of the day and we got another glimpse of the fox who roams the fields behind the house. We haven't had any other moose sightings. Just lots of birds and the crazy cat that pounces on us as we walk out of the kitchen. Had a chance to just walk around and take some photos of the property around the farm.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172434380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172434380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172434380/tpod.html Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:31:25 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Gothenburg, Sweden



We got up Friday and had breakfast and were on our way to Gothenburg. Chris has cousins there that we were going to meet up with, but we had rented a hotel to stay in. It was a nice little place that had a sauna. I enjoyed soaking up the 200 degree heat after 2 weeks in the cold.



Gothenburg is a cool little city. I sampled one of the local favorites, which consists of 2 hot dogs in a bun covered with mashed potatoes. Not bad, especially when it's cold outside. Most of the next 2 days was just spent relaxing and having some beers around town. It's nice to be in a city with public transportation. I forget how nice it is to not have to drive everywhere. We managed to squeeze in a little culture as well by hitting a few museums, one of which was about 60 kilometers north of the city. The exhibit itself wasn't anything exciting, but the town and the landscape was really beautiful.





Sunday morning we had another 'potato dog' and headed back to the farm. I should mention that the food here has been great. Jonas cooks up great dinners every night and I'm getting to sample a lot of traditional Swedish dishes. Tonight was a special sort of shrimp that is harvested during spawning season, so each shrimp has it's eggs attached. I guess it's kind of like shrimp caviar. You peel them and put them on toasted bread with mayonaise, dill and lemon. Very good. We followed it up with Sardine pizza. Last week we had Moose pizza.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172168880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172168880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1172168880/tpod.html Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:36:37 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hyltebruk, Sweden

We've gotten snow for the past few days, which adds a level of difficulty to our task. For one, nasty, uneven terrain lies in wait under a smooth blanket of snow. Each step has the potential to send your leg to the bottom of a 12" deep pocket of water, or into a hole between roots and rocks. So walking around can be a challenge, particularly when carrying a chainsaw. Sometimes even finding the fallen trees can be an adventure. But the snow makes the job feel more genuine and I'm glad it's finally there. Now I feel I've earned some bragging rights.

We had a new development in the case of the stolen car. It was recovered, undamaged and returned to us. We had to drive an hour North to get it, but it was fine. Some of the stuff inside was missing, but the thieves had installed a new car stereo(well "new" might not be the right word), so in some ways, the theft was actually an upgrade. Everyone is happy to have the car back. We never thought we'd see it again.

This weekend Chris and I head into Gothenburg for a well-deserved weekend of debauchery. It'll be nice to sleep in.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171827360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171827360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171827360/tpod.html Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:01:56 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hytlebruk, Sweden

We spotted some moose today. A cow and her calf. I guess it's pretty rare to see them, although we see hoof prints and droppings all over the place in the forest. If you walk in a straight line for more than 50 feet, you will have passed a few piles of moose droppings, which happen to look like little chocolate easter eggs. These moose just stood there and looked at us. We also saw a fox, which is rare as well.





I had my first 'close call' today. I was rooting a tree which is the process of cutting a fallen tree loose from it's root cluster. These root clusters can be up to 20 feet tall and consist of roots, dirt, moss, ice, etc.





When you cut through the tree, it falls to the ground and the cluster either stays vertical because itäs frozen in place, or it will fall one way or the other. So you prepare for it to potentially fall towards you. An escape route is always a good idea. In this case, I cut the tree loose and as I stepped back, the cluster fell away from me, but in doing so, a root that was hidden below came jutting up out of the ground and caught me between my legs, on my thigh and flipped me over onto my head and should. These things must weigh 3 tons. I was a rag doll. It must have looked pretty funny, unfortunately no one was looking my way when it happened. The chainsaw wasn't spinning, so I wasn't in any danger there. I guess falling on the chain would have left a mark. My shoulder is sore tonight, but I don't think I did any damage. I definitely learned a lesson.

It also snowed tonight. There was a beautiful sunset too.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171653780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171653780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171653780/tpod.html Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:30:45 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hytlebruk, Sweden

I seem to be getting into the groove now. A new chain on my chainsaw made a huge difference. It's really beautiful, working in the hollows. It's sad that there's so much damage, trees just ripped up out of the ground and fell over.



You trim the branches off the tree, then cut it at it's base and the stump and root cluster falls back into place, often sending up a spray of water and ice that had collected in the hole. These trees grow fast and within 15 years, it'll all look like nothing ever happened. Until the next storm.....




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171558020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171558020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171558020/tpod.html Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:27:41 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hytlebruk, Sweden

The day started out fine enough. It's cold, but once you get going, it warms up quick. Work consisted mainly of myself chopping branches off of huge fallen trees. Jonas hooks a cable to them and winches them to his tractor where he has a machine that grabs the tree and passes it through a type of claw that strips whatever branches I didn't get. It then chops the tree into manageable pieces that will be sold to a lumber company. Chris follows along in another tractor that picks up the logs and puts them on a trailer. My back hurts and my arms a little weak. I'm using muscles that I don't use all that often.




Toward the end of the day, we saw a car drive by very fast that looked very similar to Jonas's car. Turns out someone stole his car and drove it right past us as we worked. We had it parked to the side of a dirt road about 50 yards from where we were working and the keys were in the ignition. We're out in the middle of nowhere. I think 5 cars drove by us the whole day. Luckily not too much was in the car, equipment wise. Just some tools and some of our clothing. The police don't seem to think there's much chance of recovery. I'm not sure what's going to happen.

I'm having trouble uploading pictures, I'll get some up when I get it figured out. Everything on this computer is in Swedish.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171478700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171478700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171478700/tpod.html Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:18:14 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Hyltebruk, Sweden

The flight from LA to Atlanta was pretty uneventful. The next leg to Copenhagen wasn't very crowded, so we all had 2 seats to ourselves, so I managed to get a little sleep. Chris and his Dad Jonas met me at the airport. We took the ferry into Sweden and after a quick stop to get me some chainsaw boots, we were on our way. We're about 90 minutes North of Denmark.

The damage to the trees is pretty bad. He has 500 acres here and 2 bad storms in the last 2 years has wrecked some havoc. We spent a few hours today ripping stumps out of the ground with a mini bulldozer and some tractors. Tomorrow we'll get our hands dirty.



It's kind of cold and wet here. There's frost on the ground and the pond is frozen over. We're staying a house that was rebuilt in 1960, but the grounds and farm have been around for 400 years. There's a crazy cat living here too that keeps pouncing on my legs.








I need to get some sleep. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171326480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171326480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yehaww/sweden_2007/1171326480/tpod.html Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:35:02 -0500 Lumberjacking in Sweden

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Los Angeles, California, United States

For those that don't know, I'm taking this trip to help a friend clear some fallen trees off of his Dad's property. We'll be in Southern Sweden and I'll actually be flying into Copenhagen.

Spent the last 2 days digging out my Winter gear and blowing the dust off. I even purchased a scarf, gloves and a ski mask. I'm think I'm prepared for cold weather work.



Probably over prepared. The flight got bumped a day, so I'm leaving early Tuesday morning. Not looking forward to 13 hours of flying, but I think it's going to be a fun time once I get there.
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