We've had few days of warm weather. The icebergs at the end of the driveway have shrunk so that I can see both edges of the asphalt and only about 50% of the lawn is still covered in white.
I called Butter Valley to see if the airport was open. She answered "Butter Valley Golf", I had to remind her about the "port" part. After I pleaded for awhile she promised to get John to scrape the remaining ice off of the runway. I decided to go visit Sally.
Most of the ice had melted from in front of the hangar door. We were no longer prisoners. The outer door still scraped along the concrete but I was able to get it open to allow some sunshine in. I pulled all of the tarps and covers off and was pleased to find she had weathered the winter well. Master on, the panel quickly came to life relieving me of my fears that the long inactivity would leave her without any voltage. She took a long time to burp, but the oil level was still just slightly on the high side. I've forgotten when she had the last oil change, I'll have to get on Harry's schedule for a Spring refresher.
I walked around carefully checking all surfaces. She was ready to fly. Maybe today?
I did a FOD walk-down and except for a few mounds of snow everything was clear. Until I came to the sod taxi way. 50% of that turf was still covered with ice with some piled high enough to be a challenge. The rest was spongy due to the thaw. Not flying today, but soon.
I spent some time with the Waxall going over all the upper services. Then I took the 696 out to take home for terrain updates.
A bit of advice: It is NOT a good idea to test just how spongy the turf is by driving your car over it. You should WALK it first. If you drive over it you may get hopelessly stuck in the mud and have to call the airport owner to come pull you out with his tractor. Just sayin'
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