We're going to need a couple of raincoats

The weather here in Basel has drastically changed since I posted about the heat on Monday. This morning when I got up to walk the pups it was 60 degrees and raining. Not a downpour by any means, but a steady rain that made it feel pretty chilly outside.

With that said, I quickly discovered this morning that I'm going to need to find two weenie dog-sized raincoats. Here in Basel I've only been able to find waterproof coats for them. They don't need coats yet, but something waterproof would be helpful.

As I've mentioned before, I never thought I would be one to put clothes on the dogs, but the raincoats would actually serve a purpose. Without a raincoat Tanner sulks along and proceeds to look absolutely pitiful for the entire walk. He is also constantly stopping to shake water off of himself. Toby, on the other hand, loves the water and could care less if he gets wet. The problem with him though is that long hair. When he goes out and it is raining, I'm pretty much forced to blow dry him as soon as we get back home. This gets really old, really fast. If I don't blow dry him he will immediately run around the apartment, jumping on anything possible, rubbing on couch pillows, rugs and other surfaces to try and dry himself off. Gross- I don't need the apartment smelling like wet dog all the time.

The search will be on when we come to the US in the next couple of weeks. I've added this to my growing list of things we need to buy while in Texas. If I'm going to walk them for three hours a day, even on the rainy days, I may need to invest in some waterproof pants for myself as well. I'll be outfitted in a whole slicker suit before you know it!

A different kind of heat

I've totally been slacking off on the blog lately, and I'm not sure why. I need to get back on track, so here it goes...surely I can meet my goal of blogging daily.

When you think of Switzerland probably one of the first things you think of is the Alps. Those cold, crisp mountains. Unfortunately those images are very far away from us in Basel right now, and so not what's happening.

For the past few days it's been in the low to mid 90s. Now for those of you in Texas, I know that the 90s may not seem that hot. And compared to a heat index around 110 degrees, it's not. But when you don't have air conditioning, the 90s are really hot! Not only do we not have air conditioning, but pretty much no where does, so there's no cooling down inside either. The grocery store is pretty much the only place that is air conditioned, and I can only lug my basket around for so long when I really don't have that much stuff to get.

The 90s may seem much cooler than Texas, but you also have to think about the amount of activity that we do outside. In Texas people pretty much walk from the house to the car, from the car to the office, then back into the car to journey to whatever the next indoor destination is. On the other hand, in Switzerland any time I need to go anywhere it involves walking outside- to the tram, from the tram, to the store...and of course then there's the walking with the dogs three hours a day.

Thankfully it's supposed to cool down in a few days, and the high will only be in the mid-60s. BK and I are headed back to Texas in the next couple of weeks, and although I am not looking forward to the heat, I am looking forward to climate controlled buildings. I'm also hoping that when we get back fall will have crept into Basel and it might be just a tad cooler.

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not complaining about living in Basel. It's still an awesome experience. Also, take note. I will absolutely come back and read this post when I'm snowed in or moaning about having to put on seven layers to go outside.