Annual - Long Drivel Update

Well, Fat Albert finally got liberated yesterday, just 6 days shy of
two months in solitary at the mechanic's shop... The 'third times the
charm' carburetor works like a champ... It didn't dump fuel all over
the ramp... It didn't run lean on takeoff... It did shut down the
engine when the mixture was pulled to cut off... I haven't settled the
final bill for the 'lets put the cowls off and on, and off and on,
etc., ad nauseum', but the grand total for this annual and AD party has
been expensive... Oh well, as I said, ya gotta be nuts to own an
airplane...

The temp was 20 degrees on the ramp with the wind from the northeast at
16 knots, gusting 21 knots, 1600 foot ceiling and curtains of blowing
snow... Unicom was silent with no one flying within radio range...
Saginaw TRACON had long periods of silence between transmissions to the
few IFR airplanes flying within their area... Once airborne it was not
as rough as I would have predicted... The outside temp 15 F and the
spanking new, C&D heater is keeping me comfy with the heat control at
50% ( big smile)... I hit a wall of heavy snowfall that looked like it
was zero/zero, or close to it, between me and where I wanted to go... I
didn't feel like air filing IFR to fly through it so I elected to angle
Northeast out over the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron to look for a thin
spot... 5 miles offshore over sullen looking, lead colored waves, I saw
a thin spot in the wall of snow and turned Southeast... 5 minutes later
I'm behind the heavy squall which is blowing from the East (unusual
direction for us in winter)... I spend 40 minutes just flying around,
changing power settings and releaning the engines to be sure the new
carburetor is good to go - everything seems OK... It feels good to be
flying again...

4:30 PM and it's dark enough that lights on the ground are bright, I
turn final for runway 5 at HYX, with the airport's rotating beacon
blinking off and on through the snow curtains... The airport is
deserted, so with no one around to watch the landing in the gusty wind
it's a picture perfect squeaker, of course... Home again, home
again...

Denny