While our humans are out running and biking, we are enjoying the wonderful snuggle sack that Queen Snickers and Empress sent us, that their mom made!
Some of you have asked about the weather in Munich. Usually it is quite nice, with summer temperatures in the mid-20s (Celcius) so 25-26°C (78-80°F) and reasonable humidity (50-60%). We generally have a couple of weeks of really hot weather (over 30°C or 90°F) and high humidity (80-100%). These really hot, humid weeks are nasty, since most German homes and businesses do not have air conditioning. The Germans don't "believe" in air conditioning and many consider it unhealthy. When our humans had a house hunting trip to find a place to live in Munich, our mom wanted a place with air conditioning, but they couldn't find one, because they don't exist! It is almost unheard of for a home to have air conditioning, and most hotels don't have air conditioning either. When our humans first moved to Germany and were waiting for their household effects to arrive (so they could move into their place) they were staying in hotels. Well, they arrived in the middle of a heat wave, and to find a hotel that had air conditioning, that still had rooms available, they had to go to a city North of Munich. Only a few hotels in Munich itself had air conditioning, and they were all booked up.
Our mom really suffers when it is very hot and humid, but sadly, we can't install any air conditioning unit in our home. Our windows don't open like North American windows - most German windows tilt open from the top or bottom, forming like a v-shape, or else they swing open like a door. Most windows don't have screens, so swinging them open like a door isn't an option (since we could escape). Our humans have installed fabric mesh in our windows, so that bugs don't fly inside, but we could easily get through the fabric mesh if we wanted to. So our humans generally just tilt the windows open to let air in.
There are stand alone air conditioning units available, but they all require a vent to the outside. They all have vent hoses that need to go through the walls, and vent to the outside (that's how the hot air is removed). Since our humans don't own our home (they are only renting since they are only in Germany for 4 years), they aren't allowed to cut holes in the walls for vents. The walls are also concrete, so it makes it really hard to cut holes in it, even if we were allowed (it also makes hanging things on the walls difficult!)
We are supposed to have really hot, humid weather all this week, so our mom will suffer. She does have a "cool air" unit for the bedroom - basically a fan that you put water and ice inside, and the air moves over the ice and provides some cooling that way. It's better than just a fan, but it's not as good as air conditioning.
So that's summer weather in Munich, at least since our humans moved here (summer 2006). Generally quite nice, but with a couple of weeks of nasty hot, humid, sticky weather. We already had one very hot, humid week at the end of May, and this coming week is supposed to be really hot and humid too. Then we'll probably have another week or two of the yucky weather in July and another in August, if this summer is similar to the past two summers.
Tags: Easy Like Sunday Morning, Weather, Munich, Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten
Dragonheart: So yesterday, many of you commented that you couldn't envision either of us being naughty. Well, you would be correct if you were talking about me. I'm the "good boy." Merlin, however, has acquired the nicknames "El Destructo", "Psycho Kitty", and "Little $h!t". So here are:
Attacks the list of emergency phone numbers posted on the wall next to the phone. Chews it up and tries to tear it down. (See photo to the right) Attacks other papers and the telephone book in the corner by the phone.
Chews and claws at any cardboard in the house, destroying it, including cardboard boxes used for storage. (See photo to the right)
Attacks the headphones attached to the treadmill, pulling them down and tangling them up. He also tries to jump onto the treadmill while one of our humans is running on it!
