Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

to note -- trees here fully leafing out -- when I first got here years ago, that happened the first week of April -- the good news, of course, is it appears they're generally still alive after last year's heat and drought (the DFW area wasn't hit as hard by the drought as the bulk of the rest of the state, and the area has been very fortunate with rainfall the last few months)

heard a bird chirping outside my window this morning -- not a bunch of 'em, just one -- and just for a little while, quiet since -- first time I recall hearing a bird outside in about eight months (since the birds, around my location anyway, just vanished in last year's heat and drought) -- where the usual here is to hear birds outside to one level or another every day year-round