During the recent heat waves, someone watching me walk around the block might think I had been drinking. I weave from one side of the street to another, 3 or 4 times in a single block. No, I haven't been drinking although a sangria would be nice. I'm desperately seeking shade during a hot day. Like many older subdivisions our neighborhood has lost some of the street trees that were planted 40 or 50 years ago. Now the sidewalks are a patchwork of no trees, little bitty trees, and lovely, full grown and full of leaves hardwoods. I plot my walk to spend as much time as possible under those grand trees.

On a hot day, a walker finding one of these can imagine the joy of finding an oasis in the desert. Stepping under one of these trees is remarkably close to stepping in an air conditioned room. The drop in felt heat or the heat index is immediate and drastic. With Joyce Kilmer in mind, maybe there are poems as lovely as a tree but never as cooling. By the way, fully grown hardwoods also cool houses this time of year. A few well placed trees cut the load on your air conditioning.

We have a magnificent basswood in our front easement that provides many square feet of respite from the heat. Also noteworthy is the degree to which the leaves attenuate the velocity of rain during a thunderstorm and one of the reasons they limit erosion. It also reminds me of the exchange between Luke and Obi Wan Kenobi in the Return of the Jedi. Luke confronts Obi Wan (with his lie that Darth Vader has killed Luke's father—Vader is Luke's father. Obi Wan replies: "... many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view ...". This makes no sense in the context of the Stars Wars' plot but it applies to basswoods.

I love our basswood tree. I talked to a beekeeper at a farmers' market who loves them even more. He continually described basswood trees as food troughs for honeybees. A mature basswood has an uncountable number of blossoms for three or so weeks in the late spring and early summer, which honey bees love. Basswood honey is delicious.

Some of my neighbors have the opposite point of view. Basswood branches are fragile and crash to the ground or on parked cars during high winds. They have a huge leaf drop around blossoming time, which leads to the chore of leaf raking in June. And the prodigious amount of leaves that provide shade and erosion control have to be raked or mulched several times in the fall. I've heard folks cursing basswoods. Perhaps they should buy a jar of the honey.

A hot squirrel splooting on a cool tree. *Photo by Mickey FCC*

Squirrels know all about the shade the maple related trees provide. Jerry Davis, a retired UW LaCrosse biology professor, recently described squirrels splooting—now there's a great new Scrabble word. That occurs when an overheated squirrel stretches its entire underside against a cool branch, preferably of a maple tree. Professor Davis reports that such a tree can be 20 degrees (!) cooler than its unshaded surroundings. Also the branch and squirrel benefit from the tree's internal air conditioning. The water the tree is pumping through its trunk and branches is groundwater, much cooler than the air temps.

Squirrels know a lot. This year my hazelnut copse had record production. In previous years, the squirrels had nabbed everyone. Ho, ho, ho, not this year. I was watching the hazelnuts like a hawk, ready to spring into action when they were ripe. A couple of weeks ago, this hawk spotted a squirrel making a racket in the tops of the bushes. In an hour or so I was ready to pick. Ho, ho, ho. The squirrels had eaten EVERY SINGLE HAZELNUT. EVERY ONE. I chec ked and rechecked but all I could see was the ground covered in shells.

Cool and well fed, who knew squirrels had it so good?

Stay cool and keep your Nutella away from the squirrels.

Written by Topf Wells, Madison Audubon advocacy committee