Hi doc,
I did the same thing on Sunday. I was flying in the southern part of
the DFW area. By my log book it had been since...well lets just say it
had been too long since I had flown at all. With an instructor and a
friend I flew from Grand Prairie to Ennis to Hillsboro and back to GPM.
I called FSS an hour before the flight to get the status of P49. She
said the "extended" zone was not active. I got the usual "...stay in
touch with ATC in the event it does become active during your flight."
Hillsboro isn't in the extended P-49, so I wasn't too worried. It was a
bit hazy at 3000 that day, but it was a joy to fly. I can't let it get
that long between flights again. Happy Birthday and wishing you many more.

doc wrote:
Celebrating both my birthday and the fact that I know that at least
today Bush is a long ways from Texas and there won’t be any popup
presidential TFR’s, I rented a little old 152 for a spin around the
prairie.

My landings showed a lot of rust, but weren’t particularly scary. What
was scary was a Cub or something like that suddenly popping out of the
haze at exactly my altitude, passing by going the opposite direction
just a couple hundred yards to my right. The weather was severe clear,
but with no wind on a warm day the horizon was nothing but a brown
smudge about 10 degrees wide. I’d put in something sanctimonious here
about air pollution, but I can’t say as I was exactly improving the
situation in that Cessna.

Time to turn on the grill. And yes, I am serving Texas wine with Texas
beef. It's better than you might think. How's that for a ringing
endorsement?