November 25th

I went out and raked leaves and cut the grass.  Oh yes, the fun here, it never stops.

In the afternoon, we went to the airfield in threw in some circuits.  It was pretty busy, and we started using 33 and ended up using 15.  On the final take off, the engine made a strange sound, and I thought it was just that my hand had slipped on the throttle, but it wouldn't rev the way it normally does, so we did a short circuit (downwind along the taxi way) and a precautionary landing.  Thinking about it carefully, I think it was a partial seizure.  Back at the hangar, I swear I could hear a slight clinking noise every now and then when turning it over by hand.  We chatted to Larry for a bit before he headed out, and then we met Vince for dinner.  He thinks it could be a ring or something, but I need to take a look at it (no tools, as I wasn't expecting to do anything).  So, for now Xmas is cancelled while I fret about a new engine (this one has just over 400 hours on it, so it's due a total rebuild anyway).

In the evening we watched "Seeking a Friend For The End of The World", which is a sweet take on Armageddon.  Hey, three and a half weeks to go!