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I'll cover this ridge with soil, and then plant something.
Flowers are always nice to look at. Something for the posterity.
This is how the garden looks like in its present state.
He wanted flowers even though he couldn't see them.
He always asked what colour they were.
There were plum trees up here before.
When they didn't survive, he just noted it was an interesting experiment.
I built this loft for an extra room and a storage.
The rebars inside the posts are fixed to the ceiling with strong screws.
I needed sides, so I wouldn't fall down. I used rattan for an open look.
I rest here in my spare time listening to radio.
There are subjects from massage to science on the cassettes.
He received an acknowledgement from Mensa in 2007.
Few uneducated ever will.
He only read non-fiction.
I built a house in Hyvinkää that took eight years.
I had to move.
Malevolent youth caused too much trouble.
I wasn't able to stand up to them alone.
He mined three stories underground in Hyvinkää.
He employed a demolition expert, but he broke the neighbours' windows.
He continued on his own to avoid complaints.
He knew how much dynamite was needed for different types of rock.
In the last moments in the hospital, -
my uncle told me where he had hidden the dynamite.
He didn't want me to touch it before he had gone, -
because the police didn't give him dynamite anymore.
They just laughed at him when he requested a demolition permit.
He said to be careful with the primers in the same bucket.
I had to promise not to touch the dynamite before he had gone.
Good. It's a live wire.
Fire in the hole!
Clear!
Let's see.
This is normal for a small blast.
VENNINEN'S CAVE IN 1997 A normal output indeed.
Most of the demolition output has now been used elsewhere.
Only a fraction still remains. He carried everything out in a bucket.
Neighbours have used the output in the foundations of their houses.
IN THE SPRING OF '08, JOHAN VENNINEN IS 99 YEARS OLD
I turn on the light for you.
The work is still unfinished.
I've paneled the walls myself.
Old rock leaks water.
This is the dressing room.
And here's the shower room.
And the sauna.
I did all the woodworking myself.
Here's the well.
I must raise the threshold, so the waters won't mix.
It's full.
I'd like to blast this wall straight, -
but it must do if I can't manage anymore.
I don't think anyone else will continue it either.
Since the cave became so big, -
I wrote my declaration on a copper plate for the posterity.
The cave was no accident. It was his homage to his father who was a mason.
They both loved masonry.
The last phase was to panel the ceiling and the walls.
That was the last of it.
I mean to manage on my own until the end.
If I can't think for myself anymore, -
I'll end up in a home.
I don't think it'll happen though.
It seems my body will give up first.
The sun is shining.
I have to rest awhile.
My wife and I were in the hospital the last moments -
when he saw the end coming.
He said he didn't fear death.
He passed peacefully and painlessly.
The doctors said he truly lived to the very limit.