Exercise in discipline today.

Went to the airport to not only check on the general state of things after the storm, but do some minor maintenance.

The forecast was no wind, but low clouds. No flying, just work, was my decision before heading out.

The epoxy on the fuel tank worked a treat - I no longer have a sheen of gasoline on the lower neck of it next to the battery. While that removes some minor sense of adventure in flying, I'll just have to live with it.

I had used the fuel pump to empty the gas tank, and so the battery had to be recharged.

One of my tires was flat, so I replaced the inner tube.

The gun's front bottom bolts looked kinda ugly sticking out there, so I made covers for them. Completely cosmetic, the bolts are firm and robust. The rear support tube joint was a bit rough, so I bent the tabs to a better angle and placed nuts on the insides of the center section to reduce vibration. Not that I saw it wiggle in flight, it's just a simple means of beefing it up.

Double checked my fuel bobber, as it seems a bit low with five gallons in it. It's bobbing fine; maybe I've needed to extend the rod the whole time, and adding another three gallons really brought it up. Going to have to think about that. It needs to bottom out at the three gallon mark (one hour flight time) or maybe two, not the five.

Meanwhile, the clouds were slowly lifting and breaking up. Two thousand feet. No, don't look, the're sucker holes and there's a lower wall over there. Two five hundred, with it looking pretty good to the west. Winds are almost nil on the ground. But something is moving the low clouds, and it ain't magic.

I have a little personal rule that if I call a no-go for flight from the start, that's it. No flight. Nobody is running up to me with a kidney in a cooler for a child's transplant, after all, and it's a hobby. I'm naturally kind of risky, so I have to really watch myself; without a system of personal rules for risk to follow I have been known to be foolhardy - it is through the grace of God that I survived long enough to see the wisdom of risk management.

Talledega race week, so my airport has already been invaded. On the upside, they cut the grass. Hell, they bailed it, it was tall enough. The front of the FBO looks like a car dealership with rental vehicles. RV's are starting to fill the areas across from the race track, so traffic will be crazy soon. Well, slow and stupid. The NASCAR guys that make up the airport board and folks sporting lanyards with ID's on them were seen today clearly checking things out, and judging by the looks I got from them, us local yokels aren't favored sons. The place where they put the boarding pass machine was being cleared in the FBO.

Things get pretty fancy for a few days twice a year.

I need to have a few weeks of good weather to complete my test flight requirements and move one airport over. St. Claire County (Pell City) is much better, with friendly folks and management that isn't a huge corporation taking care of a field only because they are under under legal obligation to do so.