Wow, it's not January anymore........

Can't believe my last post was January 26th!!! Time flies when you're working overtime and having fun besides. Actually, I kind of wimped out this week and only put in 44 hours at work. Feeling kind of under the weather the last couple days, slight sore throat and headache sort of stuff.

I've had a couple of flying sessions since last post, hoping that one of them would be solo, but the winds have been a little much for that, practiced crosswind landings instead. Also revisited power on and power off stalls. Did a couple of turning stalls, too. One needs to know how to recover from a stall if it happens inadvertently, especially near the ground!!

I've been dealing with a guy in Crivitz about an airplane that he has.
It looks like this. The red and white one on the main page. This plane is about the same size as the wire-braced plane I've been training in, only it's mostly enclosed with removable doors for warm weather flying. The one I'm looking at has a four-stroke engine (more durable and fuel efficient than two stroke), full instrument package, upgraded brakes, in-flight trim system, adjustable 3 blade prop, and a BRS ballistic chute system!! This last item is a whole-plane chute that will allow plane and occupants to float down to ground on the chute in the event of a major failure in the air. That's a definite plus!
Today we were supposed to meet the owner at the Merrill airport to look at and test fly the plane. According to my flight instructor, the owner is a dependable fellow that he's know for years and I don't need to be afraid to deal with him on a plane. This is better than finding a plane somewhere and not knowing anything about the plane or owner. Anyway, the guy got hung up in Appleton this morning and won't be able to make it today. Looks like we will try to meet tomorrow morning in Merrill. If things look good, I'll give the guy a ride back to Crivitz and the plane will stay in Merrill at Steve's hangar for a while. I'll use the new plane to finish up the sport pilot requirements before I move it to Phillips. Or, I can always move it to Phillips and then fly it to Merrill for the remaining dual instruction appointments that I will need to meet the requirements. In either case, I'm looking forward to it!!! I'll also have to get going on getting the plane ready to be inspected for airworthiness so I can register it with the FAA and get it N-numbered, as that is what is necessary to be able to fly with a passenger. I ordered a kit from EAA in Oshkosh that has all the necessary info and all the labels for gauges and controls and will need to get that taken care of ASAP.

We're kind of back in a pattern of cloudy, cloudy and then cloudy weather. Makes it kind of hard to schedule air time....
We still haven't had any REALLY cold weather since late November, early December. I hope it continues to be somewhat mild and then sunny and warm starting March 1st.

Not much new going on around here. Turkeys continue to visit near the house and yard, but not many other critters around. I have all my supplies to start another round of taxidermy. You may recall the stories in this blog from last year's first-time attempts at mounting deer heads. Ivan and Jerry have been busy already with getting some mounts done, I need to focus on getting a couple of hides fleshed and tanned so I can get on with this!!! I have two heads to do this year, and hope they turn out.....

That's about it for now. I'll let you know if we meet the Crivitz dude tomorrow! I'm going to go take a nap in the recliner and see if this headache will go away.