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- Written by: Editor
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Taylor Observatory will hold a public lecture and astronomical viewing on Saturday, Oct. 9.
From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. join observatory staffer John Zimmerman for “Telescopes: Tiny Windows on a Big Universe.”
Zimmerman will review telescope history, types, advantages and disadvantages.
The evening event includes a lecture, a planetarium show and telescope viewing.
The suggested donation is $3 per person.
The Taylor Observatory is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane, Kelseyville.
For more information visit www.taylorobservatory.org or call 707-262-4121.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
KELSEYVILLE – The Redbud Audubon Society is resuming its monthly program meetings, starting on Thursday, Sept. 16, with an excellent program on sandhill cranes.
The society will no longer be meeting at the Kelseyville High School Library, but instead will meet both at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church Social Hall, and later in the year at the Lower Lake School House Museum.
This Thursday’s meeting will convene at 7 p.m. at the church social hall, located at 5340 Third St. in Kelseyville. The program starts at 7:30 p.m.
This month’s meeting features the magnificent sandhill cranes that winter in California’s Central Valley.
The speaker is Paul Tebbel, executive director of Friends of the River an environmental group based in Sacramento.
Tebbel managed National Audubon’s 1,400-acre Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte River in Nebraska for 11 years.
The Platte River is known for the world’s largest concentration of sandhill cranes during their spring migration. The Rowe Sanctuary is managed for the cranes and other water birds.
With a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in zoology, Tebbel studied sandhill cranes for his thesis. His work with cranes for his thesis at the Rowe Sanctuary, and the International Crane Foundation is the basis for his presentation.
The public is invited to attend and for more information about the Redbud Audubon Society, go to www.redbudaudubon.org.
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- Written by: Editor
CLEARLAKE Calif. – Konocti Dance Academy is holding its second annual “Free Day of Dance” this Saturday, Sept. 18.
Free classes for ages 2 to 12 will be offered in tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, Hula and Indian Bollywood.
Drop-ins are welcome – take all the classes you want for free.
For Saturday's schedule go to www.konoctidanceacademy.com/FreeDanceDay.jpg.
One student from each class will win a tuition scholarship for the fall 2010 semester.
Don't miss the fun.
Konocti Dance Academy is located at 4274 Old Highway 53 in Clearlake, telephone 707-995-0481.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Boaters and anglers will soon be putting away their boats for the season. But before they do, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) has some tips learned from fuel industry insiders on how to store a boat with E-10 gasoline (containing 10 percent ethanol) over the winter.
The octane issue
Over long winter storage periods, E-10 gasoline loses octane at about the same rate as non-ethanol gasoline. So leaving the gas tank mostly empty – and then refilling in the spring in the hopes of “refreshing” the fuel to regain any octane loss – is not necessary. However, a nearly empty gas tank introduces another problem: the strong possibility of phase separation.
Ethanol (an alcohol) attracts water. It also absorbs water – about 10 times more than regular gasoline. When ethanol can no longer absorb the water, it will “phase separate” from the gasoline. Should phase separation occur, the (water soaked) ethanol will settle to the bottom of the tank, which is where the engine’s fuel system pick-up is located.
The problem with leaving a tank mostly empty is that it increases the tank’s “lung capacity” to breath in moist air (water) through the vent. If the tank is mostly empty over the winter, there will also be less E-10 gas in the tank to absorb the moisture. This combination of more water and less absorption greatly increases the chances of phase separation. Adding fresh gasoline in the spring would not remedy the problem — the phase-separated ethanol would remain separated at the bottom of the tank.
The water separator issue
Any moisture in a tank will be readily absorbed by the ethanol. E-10 can hold up to half a percent of water by volume and up to that concentration the water molecules will dissolve in the gasoline forming a soluble mixture that will pass through a water separator and burn harmlessly in your engine.
The only time water will collect in a tank and not be absorbed is if phase separation has occurred, and by then it will be too late. A water separator is not a solution to the phase separation problem.
The fuel additive issue
Fuel additives are good for many reasons and should be used when laying up a boat for winter, but no additive will stand up to a good-sized slug of water. And once too much water has entered the tank and the gas has begun to phase separate, no additive will return the fuel to its original state. The only solution to phase-separated gas is to have a professional drain the tank and start anew.
The best advice for storing E-10 in your boat’s gas tank over winter
Keep the tank nearly full. This greatly reduces the volume of moist air that can enter the tank via the fuel tank vent when temperatures fluctuate in the fall and spring. With any fuel, an antioxidant will help keep it fresh during lay-up. Finally, never plug up a fuel tank vent — it creates pressure that could cause dangerous leaks in the fuel system.
For more information including free downloadable winterizing checklists, go to www.BoatUS.com/winter. To watch a short video on ethanol and winterization, go to www.youtube.com/user/BoatUSvideos#p/u/44/QWgLHTkDhYU.