Today was a big day at the airport. We ran the engine in the Swift. It was the first time since January 1, 2007. On that day my son Richard and I made the Swift's last recorded flight over to Anahuac. Anyway, we rolled it out and went through all the preliminaries then hit the starter. Amazingly, it started in two blades! The run up was perfect. Everything was in the middle of the green. Lycoming makes fine aircraft engines. All through this project I have been apprehensive about the work to be done. I am constantly concerned we will find something that will be either expensive or very difficult to fix. The biggest relief, by a long shot, was getting the left landing gear repaired. The only big item left is to repair the engine baffling. Then it is doing all the nitty gritty annual inspection items. This can be a challenge because you have to be a contortionist to get at some of the stuff that needs inspecting and replacement. There is a very good possibility that we can return to the air in the next week or so.