Cecilie's Journal

Monday, July 31, 2006

Increasing dog smuggling.. into Sweden...

About 150 puppies have been confiscated by Swedish customs during the past two years, while at the same time the Swedish Board of Agriculture says the number of sick dogs suspected to have been smuggled into the country is up. The increase in smuggling of small dogs has gone up since it has become popular and the trend started with party princess Paris Hilton's pet chihuahua Tinkerbell. In order to prevent smuggled dogs from spreading rabies and other diseases, the Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Customs Service started project Puppy. With additional personnel on the borders, a telephone tip line and tip website, Sweden hopes to crack down on the importation of illegal animals.

Three men were caught in April smuggling four Doberman puppies into Sweden while crossing into Sweden from Denmark. One of the men is now suspected to have smuggled in some 25 dogs which he eventually sold on his website. A pair was sentenced to one year in jail for importing 55 dogs from Poland. This commercial treatment of dogs is sicken me. I think the messures with the new project Puppy is great and smugglers should really get higher sentences. A few months ago I wrote an entry about how small dogs is used like accessoares.. like any other fashion trends. When it's not in style anymore you just toss the dog out or what..? Because people that get small dogs to be trendy, usually don't think ahead.. what will become of the puppy then..? Animal crualty that's what it is...

Posted at 6:49:56 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Ice-cream shortage.. due to hot weather...

Swedish ice cream suppliers reported shortages of their best-selling brands as Swedes upped their ice-cream consumption in the unusually warm summer weather. Hemglass this week drafted in alternative products from parent company Nestle, and hoped to satisfy demand further with supplies from its Finnish sister firm Valio. The notoriously sweet-toothed Swedes consume 12.5 liters of ice cream each every year and have boosted their demand of frozen treats in the face of abnormally high temperatures. Other suppliers are fighting to satisfy the market as demand outstrips supply.

GB Glace, which accounts for over half the ice cream sold in Sweden, confirmed sales were significantly higher than last year, but said the company could meet demand. Employees were working extra shifts and weekends to keep up with demand. While avoiding the heatwaves that have hit much of Europe, Sweden is basking in an unusually warm summer, with much of the country enjoying above-average temperatures.

Yesterday when I met Ida, we were lucky to have nice weather until we were going home later in the afternoon.. when we got thunder and rain. In one way it was good that we both missed our busses home. Ida's father came and picked her up.. and was kind to drive me all the way home too. We got some jewellery made and took a few pictures too. Will be posting them in my photo album later. This morning when I woke up it was foggy outside, but I think we will get pretty nice weather today. At least the air is fresher after yesterday's rain. My mother is coming home later this day. She has been visiting my sister and her family in Gothenburg for a few days now, while I've been trying to get some study done. I'm still struggling with my essay. It's been very hard during these warm weeks. I'll try to get something written today...

Listening to the amazing:
Michael Bubl�

Posted at 7:38:26 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Friday, July 28, 2006

Photo album.. with jewellery...

Last evening I took some time to make an online photo album with the pictures Ida took with her digital camera last week, on the jewellery I've made so far. It's not many yet. I've made three more since then and will do a few more tomorrow, which I'll be putting up soon too. Take a look and tell me what you think.. either here or in the album, where comments are very welcomed. Enjoy... click here. Wish you all a great weekend!

Posted at 6:23:18 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Water shortages.. due to summer heat and dryness...

While many find it hard to complain about this summer's heat and dryness with the knowledge of the long, dreary winter looming just a few months away, farmers around Sweden are feeling pressured, and people in south-western Sweden are having water use restricted. In southwestern Sweden, municipalities are imposing watering restrictions on residents. This year's harvest of grasses and grains are at risk of being 10 percent to 25 percent lower than normal.

The Swedish Geological Survey (SGS) says that ground water levels are lower than usual in many parts of Sweden. The organization said that across almost the whole country ground water levels have fallen by between 10 and 50 centimtres, more than usual for the time of year. People in many parts of rural Sweden get water from wells and springs. The SGS says that people who have previously had problems with wells or springs drying up should use water with caution. It also warned that dry spells can lead to more water use than normal, causing water availability to deteriorate further. To make it through this summer's drought, some are watering illegally, which will lead to prosecution. The water situation in the area is being compared with the drought of 1992, and locals are saying the situation is getting worse with each sunny day. Hopefully some rain clouds will reach Sweden in next week, but who knows.. the heat may continue...

Posted at 7:09:33 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Pictures of the jewellery.. I've made...

Here is some of the pictures Ida took with her digital camera on Saturday. So far I do mostly earrings, but last time I did the necklace visible down below. It took much longer time to do.. actually, it was the only thing I had time to do compared to the week before.. when I made about five jewellery. Since then I've done three pair of earrings and one bracelet. On Monday I went to a fair and found a fair booth that sold gems, fresh-water pearls and other jewellery parts. I bought some stuff, but now I regret I didn't buy more.. even though I haven't used much of it yet. Some of the jewellery parts are hard to find or is very expensive. Well, I'll buy more next time when I get the chance.

Posted at 6:41:50 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, July 20, 2006

High risk with fires.. in this dry weather...

Anybody who has walked across the sharp, prickly yellow grass could tell you that Sweden is bone dry. The risk of forest and grass fires is higher than ever in all parts of Sweden. The combination of weeks of sun and little rain have created prime fire conditions, where careless barbecues, camp fires or even a smoldering cigarette butt could start a blaze. According to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, it will continue to be dry for the next few days and it will take heavy rains to make the ground damp enough for the risk to diminish.

Everybod should be very careful.. there has been several big forest fires already and there's no need for more. I shouldn't complain about the hot lovely weather, it's great.. but it sure would be nice with some rain in between the sunny warm weather, we been having for a few weeks now. We went out to the forest around our summerhouse on Wednesday and picked lots of blueberries. In the woods we got some cool shades from the trees, which was nice for a change. Then yesterday I made a blueberry pie and froze some of the berries, so we can eat or make jam and so forth.. later in the fall. I haven't got much energy left to do anything special.. the high temperature makes one very drowsy. We'll be probably heading out in the woods again on Sunday to pick some more blueberries. I like to walk around in the forest.. it's so peaceful but time flies by so quickly, way to fast. It's easy to spend hours after hours there. The smell of the nature in the forest is very alluring in some kind of way too...

Posted at 6:49:22 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Ban the use of phosphorous or.. put high penalties for users...

Sweden's government wants to ban the use of phosphorous in detergents, which are adding to the problem of algae blooms in the Baltic Sea. Swedish water treatment works today with removing most phosphorous from waste water, but this is still not enough. The possibilities of a general ban on phosphorous in detergens would be more efficient. If we can get the other countries around the Baltic, which don't have the same level of water treatment that we do, on our side, then a phosphorous ban could become even more significant.

Consumers are advised to buy liquid detergent until a ban on phosphorous comes into effect, as only powder detergents contain the harmful chemicals. People should be particularly careful in their summer houses if these are not connected to municipal water treatment plants. The excess of fertilizer in the Baltic Sea is a hot topic at the Visby event. During last summer's Almedalen week, the sea off Gotland was covered in a soupy layer of blue-green algae. This year's first major outbreak was noticed at the weekend north of Gotland. The Centre Party has said that phosphorous and nitrogen should be regulated in an emissions trading scheme, similar to that in place for greenhouse gases. The party says for example that a Swedish landowner could halt timber production and sell emission rights to a water treatment plant in Poland.

Left Party leader Lars Ohly and Liberal leader Lars Leijonborg have both proposed a charge on commercially produced fertilizer. This was rejected by V�stersteg, whose party is rooted in the Swedish farming industry. He said that the proposal would make Swedish farming less competitive. The environment minister, however, said that environmental damage had to be paid for. Penalties in some way may be needed to rescue our waters.

Posted at 7:22:59 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Friday, July 14, 2006

Missing friends...

It's been a few days since last I made an entry.. well, I've been busy and have tried to be outdoors as much as possible. The weather is lovely and it will be autumn sooner than we can expect, because time seams to fly by rather quick or at least quicker than I would like it too. Wednesday this week I went down to Lund just during the day. I had some stuff to do at the faculty's library.. which didn't took much time. After that I hooked up with Susanne. I haven't seen her for months and I really miss her and the way we used to hang out. Now when we are going to meet, it takes more planning in advance.. but I guess it's worth it in the end.

Anyway, we strolled around in Lund.. it felt like we went into every store in that town. Of course we had a nice 'fika' at our favourite caf� 'Mondo'. Then we took another stroll around and at 'Meme', a great store which we both like very much, she found a beautiful top on sale.. a real bargain. It's too bad that store chain doesn't exist here and I also miss the stores 'Pink and Purple' and 'Chic o Chic', but then there are stores here that I didn't have in Lund. Later that day we went to Wasabi and had sushi. A fun day ended and I had to go back home again.. feeling a little sad saying goodbye and all. I guess I really don't miss much after the move except for the friends I had down in the south and that's a big thing or part of my life that feels bad. It's a huge different to be able to see friends that are close to me over a latte, after a quick call.. than have to travel about 20 miles for a chat and a latte.

It's not that I don't have any friends here.. I do, but it's not strange I kind of miss things. I've been living there for about ten years. Well, I'm not going to hang my head down. Tomorrow I'm going to see Ida and we'll going to make jewellery. That's a really fun hobby I've started with again. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid. I made a pair of earrings to Susanne that I gave her when I saw her on Wednesday. Her birthday isn't until early September, but I'm not sure if I'll see her then.. so she got her present already now. I made silver earrings with ametist gems. She liked them very much and put them on at once.. wore them rest of the day. I'm going to make something to my sister tomorrow.. she has her birthday now in July and it would be a perfect present.

Posted at 6:10:39 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Monday, July 10, 2006

Jobless growth.. and hidden rate of unemployment...

There has been a mixed reaction to the Swedish government's growth forecasts for the next two years, which were presented by finance minister Nuder a couple of months ago. The government predicts growth of 3.6% this year and 3% in 2007. According to Nuder, the international economic outlook appears stronger than in the autumn and households are more optimistic than they have been for a long while.

The Christian Democrats' economic spokesperson Odell was pleased with the forecast but saw a downside. Unfortunately Sweden is the world leader in jobless growth. No other economy is producing so few jobs per growth point as G�ran Persson's. As well as the growth forecast, the finance minister announced plans to boost the labour market by increasing the geographic mobility of the young. They are going to propose job seeking benefits for young people. There will also be more training for jobs with a shortage of skilled labour and investment in certain groups such as the young and the old. The package will also include resources for increasing integration in the job market. The Centre Party's economic representative Tiefensee supported the idea of targeting youth unemployment, but argued that the government is muddled in its measures.

The main opposition party, the Moderates, said that the government was lacking real ideas for creating new jobs. The economic spokesman Odenberg said, the government's policies do not affect those who are isolated from the regular job market. There are no proposals which make it more profitable to work and no proposals which create a better business climate and more jobs. Instead the government continues to invest in measures which hide the real rate of unemployment. However, the government's proposals were better received by their coalition partners. There are many aspects which we approve of, said �str�m, the vice chairman of the Left Party. The Green Party's spokesperson Wetterstrand said she was positively surprised that Nuder's list of promises was not longer.

Posted at 7:44:56 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Saturday, July 08, 2006

Rise and shine.. it's early morning...

I can't sleep, so I thought I might as well get up now and make an entry. Lately there haven't been much time over for that or being connected to the internet. So here we go.. an early entry... We've been out at our summerhouse for a few days now.. the weather has still been very hot and the forecast for next week looks the same. In this warm weather the blueberries has started to ripe and yesterday I picked my first bowl of blueberries.. and ate with some vanilla ice-cream. Delicious... According to the Naturbruksverket, this year will give almost the double amonth of berries than last year. Sounds like a good prediction.. if it's correct.

We came back in to town yesterday and today we'll have the house full of guests. My mother's birthday is on Monday, but we are celebrating it today.. because my sister and her family is leaving tomorrow for a week of vacation in Polen. It's nothing wrong with Polen, but it's not the first place I would choose to go on vacation and they didn't either. They got the trip as a present from PW's parents, who actually bought the trip for themselfs.. but his father didn't want to go (nobody had asked if he wanted to come along or not), so to make a long story short.. they ended up with the trip. Even though they aren't all that excited about it, they decided to do it.. since the trip was already paid for and all. Well, I wish them a great vacation in Polen and I hope they'll get to see lots of nice things over there.

Later on today, as I mentioned, we are going to have a birthday celebration. This means that I'm missing the gathering this weekend, in Tran�s with the 'gang', which I'm sad about. Hopefully there will be another opportunity soon again. Evelina promised to take many pictures, so those who aren't able to attend will have something nice to look at. Not really sure which people that are going, but I guess I'll find out afterwards. The clock is a few minutes passed 5am now.. too early to have breakfast, I'll just go out in the kitchen and make a cup of silver tea. Wish you all a wonderful weekend...

Morning music with:
Love Affair
By Sophie Zelmani

Posted at 4:43:57 am by Sophie Cecilie
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