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Looking for a good place to eat after a show or an event?  Georgio's is the perfect solution.  Great bar, a staff to remember, and haute cuisine!  Georgio's is still thriving because they put their customers first!

We had Crab Cakes (Alaskan King Crab) with a light, creamy Champagne Dill sauce accompanied by sauteed Halloumi Cheese.  Excellent!   Stop in and experience Georgio's for yourself. 

426 North Superior Street (right next to the Valentine Theater)
Toledo, OH 43604-1416
(419) 242-2424

[www.GOcarlot.com]

GO Auto Sales, www.GOcarlot.com, has been featuring some very impressive vehicles at very impressive (affordable) prices.  If you don't want to have to purchase outright, talk to Nick or Brad about their generous financing terms.  It may sound corny, but: "If you've got a job and a down payment, they will put you in the car of your choice." -- and they mean it!

Check out the huge selection at GO Auto Sales at 2319 Laskey Road, Toledo, Ohio; or take a look online:

www.GOcarlot.com

[Mark DiPietro]

The famous musical comedy built around America’s national pastime, Damn Yankees is the story of aging baseball fan Joe Boyd, who’s been given an opportunity to lead his beloved Detroit Tigers to victory by a devilish gent named Applegate.  Applegate, played brilliantly by Mark DiPietro, introduces Joe to his luscious assistant, Lola (Ashley Nowak in another over-the-top performance), who attempts to seduce Joe (Troy McGee); but who eventually helps him give the devil more than his due.

Scenes featuring Mark DiPietro, as the devil scheming and conniving with Ashley Nowak's Lola are hilarious!  The singing and dancing shine a Broadway spotlight on the entire cast.  Extremely well done!

August 20-21 & 27-28 at 8:00 pm August 22 & 29 at 3:00 pm
Full of wonderful songs including, “(You’ve Gotta Have) Heart,” and “Whatever
Lola Wants (Lola Gets)”.

Box office information: www.Croswell.org

[City Hall Grille & Drinks]

We always have a great time and great food at City Hall Grille & Drinks.  It's imperative for us to start with the Hummus Platter to whet our appetites (the Hummus and the Margaritas are homemade family recipes -- both excellent!)   I took the recommendation of our delightful server and ordered the new Italian Sausage Sandwich smothered in sauteed onions and peppers - delicious!  A City Hall Greek Salad with fresh tomatoes and lettuce and an abundance of Feta was the perfect accompaniment.

My companions had Chicken Enchilada soup and Salad, and Broccoli Cheese soup and Salad.  The whole tab for 3, including drinks, appetizer and tip, came to around $40.  That's pretty hard to beat.

City Hall is an upscale roadhouse with a well-stocked bar.  Ask the affable host and proprietor, Abe, for one of his Margaritas - you'll be glad you did!

City Hall Grille & Drinks
315 S. Reynolds Rd. (S. of Hill Ave.)
Toledo, OH 43615  -  419.536.1166

[South Beach Resort]

Beautiful Getaway on the South Shore of Lake Erie in Marlblehead.  Great view, lots of attractions, nice accommodations.

Check it out: South Beach Resort

Opening Night!  There's a phrase that makes the heart jump.  And it was opening night Friday at the Croswell!  The Croswell is the oldest theatre in this Ohio / Michigan area -- still operating -- still offering regular sessions of stunning live performances to packed houses of delighted fans.  Located in downtown Adrian (Michigan) this elegant old building has been lovingly restored.  It proudly houses some of the finest theatrical talent in in the midwest.  Friday night's first performance of The Will Rogers Follies began another fine summer season at the Croswell.

Director and star, Kent Sheridan, is back in Adrian for this event.  Sheridan has assembled a cast of Croswell veterans -- and a few new faces -- for a sterling evening of Americana.  To mention just a few: we loved Bruce Hardcastle as Flo Ziegfeld; William McKloskey gave us a stern but lovable Clem Rogers; Lucy Hagedorn as Ziegfled's Favorite, was a treat; and Ashley Nowak as Betty Blake (Will's wife) thrilled us with her wonderfully rich and versatile voice.  The MacDonalds' magic act is masterful.  Kent Sheridan himself dominated the the evening with a performance that once again proved his range as an actor.

Don't go much to live theatre??!  Oh come on!  Off that couch!  This area has some of the best theatres anywhere.  There is nothing to match the excitement and emotion of being a part of a live audience.  The Will Rogers Follies plays through June 27.  Be There!

[Kent Sheridan]

Kent Sheridan portrays humorist Will Rogers with a down-home style which endeared Rogers to millions of fans. (Kent even does the rope tricks!)

The dazzling set and bigger-than-life costumes are a tribute to Ziegfeld and that “Spectacular Show Business” period in American history.

The script cleverly combines Rogers’ wit and style with modern humor as Sheridan’s Rogers takes aim at current events effectively providing a true feel for a Will Rogers performance and the way he would have entertained us today.

Ashley Nowak plays the leading lady, Betty Blake, a role demanding the kind of range with which she is “right at home”! If you remember Ashley and Kent in a previous Croswell production, you know that they both sing beautifully. Their solos and duets in this production are just as tantalizing.

Bill McCloskey of Monroe as Clem, Will’s father, and Lucy Garno-Hagedorn of Berkey, as Ziegfeld’s Favorite, are impressive. Both could have easily overdone their roles. Instead, they brought to the stage just the right amount of spoof and spirit.

Croswell Audiences of all ages are treated to a night of fun and exceptional entertainment: orchestra, vocals, staged-numbers, costumes and a set design of Ziegfeld proportions. Any one of these elements would be worth the price of admission; but, to have them all framing the story of the life and times of American legend, Will Rogers, is a gift to audiences lucky enough to enjoy this fabulous rendition of Will Rogers Follies.

The show opened Friday at 8 p.m., June 18, with additional performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. June 25 and 26, and 3 p.m. June 27. Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for students and seniors 60 and over, and $15 for children 12 and under, and can be reserved by calling 517-264-7469; at the box office at 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian.

Box office information: www.Croswell.org

This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion on battery storage systems. Most solar or generator based backup and off-grid power systems will require a battery bank to store energy for use later when the sun is not shinning or the generator is not running. A battery bank is like the gas tank in your car. The larger the tank, the longer you can go between fill ups. However, a larger tank also means it will take longer to fill up when you do stop. Also, the larger the car’s engine (electrical load) the faster you will drain the gas tank (battery), which means you will need to stop more often for gas (recharge).


6-volt 350-amp-hour batteries with “Flag” terminals allow bolt-on type cable interconnects.

A battery bank storage system should be sized to get you through several days of stormy weather, but if the battery bank is too large for the size of your solar array or generator powered charger, you may not have time to recharge back to 100% before needing to power the loads again. If the battery load each day is greater than the solar or generator charging each day, the battery bank voltage will drop lower and lower each day until it will no longer be able to supply the loads.

Once a solar charged battery bank has been depleted, you will need to turn off all loads until the next sunny day, or utilize a backup generator or wind turbine to help you through the extended period of cloudy days. A dual source charging system allows using a smaller battery bank than a solar only system.
Battery life

Assuming we can put back what we take out each day, there are advantages to having a storage battery larger than needed to meet the daily appliance and lighting loads.

A good quality lead acid battery designed for daily charge/discharge cycling may be advertised to have a 2,000-cycle life, when discharged 20% each time (80% charge remaining). However, this same battery may only have a 400-cycle life if each cycle took the battery down to 90% discharged (10% charge remaining). Since we do not want to replace the batteries every year (400 cycles/365 days), in order to increase battery life we must reduce the depth of discharge (DOD) the battery reaches during each charge/discharge cycle. This is accomplished by using more batteries, larger batteries, or reducing the system load.


Figure 1: Two 6-volt batteries in series provide 350 amp-hour capacity at 12-volts.

Although an occasional period of stormy weather may require your battery bank to be heavily discharged, your normal average daily discharge should not go below 50%, with 40% a better goal (60% charge remaining).
Battery ratings

When selecting a battery it is the amp-hour (A-Hr) rating that defines its energy storage capacity, and a battery’s advertised amp-hour rating can be listed for different discharge time periods, so be sure you are not comparing apples and oranges.

For example, an “L16” size deep discharge battery typically used in solar powered homes has a 350 amp-hour capacity when slowly discharged over a 20-hour period (C20). However, this same battery has a 460 amp-hour rating when discharged over a 100-hour period (C100), but only a 259 amp-hour rating when discharged over a 6-hour period (C6). The 400 amp-hour battery you find on sale could actually have a smaller capacity than a 350 amp-hr battery if you are comparing amp-hour ratings for different discharge periods.

Since a typical four-hour solar charging period per day or four hours of generator run time per day leaves 20 hours per day for slow discharge before the next charging cycle, the advertised C20 rating will be the closest published discharge rating to the typical daily cycling of most residential off-grid systems.
Battery sizing


Figure 2: Two 6-volt batteries in parallel provide 700-amp-hour capacity at 6-volts.

Say you want to power a 12-volt DC lighting system for an off-grid cabin that has no other source of power. You have four fluorescent fixtures and they each are 36-watts and draw 3 amps (36 watt/12 volt = 3 amp). If all lights are operating at the same time, this means the total lighting load will be 12 amps (4 lights x 3 amps). Now let’s say you will operate these lights from 5:00 pm until 11:00 pm each night, or six hours per day. Your battery system must supply 72 amp-hours (12 amps x 6 hours) of energy each day to meet your daily power needs, if we ignore all efficiency losses.

If we select a battery having a 350 amp-hour rating, this battery will deliver 175 amp-hours (350 x 0.50) before needing recharging if discharged to 50%. NOTE: discharging a battery below 50% will greatly reduce battery life. With 175 amp-hours of battery capacity to work with, this means our lighting system can be powered for two days (175 amp-hr/72 amp-hr) before needing recharging. This also means your solar array will need to put into the battery bank a minimum each day of what you are taking out, plus at least 20% more to account for system and charging losses.

Now comes the confusing part. The 350 amp-hour battery used in this example was a 6-volt battery, and our lighting system requires double that voltage or 12-volts to operate, so we will need two batteries wired in series to provide the 12-volts. Unfortunately this does not also double the amp-hour capacity of this battery bank which will stay the same. Multiple batteries wired in series have the same amp-hour capacity as each individual battery. Only when we wire batteries in parallel do we obtain multiples of the amp-hour capacity, but wiring batteries in parallel does not increase battery voltage.
Battery interconnect wiring

The wiring diagram in Figure 1 shows the battery bank of our remote cabin lighting example, consisting of two 6-volt batteries wired in series. This provides a 12-volt output with a 350 amp-hour capacity.

If we were to wire the same two batteries in parallel, as in Figure 2, we would get a 6-volt output with a 700 amp-hour capacity.

Unfortunately, this is not enough voltage to operate the 12-volt lights. If series wiring multiplies the voltage, and parallel wiring multiples the storage capacity (amp-hour), how do we get a higher capacity battery bank to power higher voltage loads?


Figure 3: Two sets of two 6-volt batteries wired in series-parallel provide 700-amp-hour capacity at 12 volts.

For large loads, you will either need to use batteries having a higher amp-hour rating, or wire the batteries in series-parallel, as in Figure 3. Four 6-volt batteries wired in series-parallel will provide a 12-volt output with a 700 amp-hour capacity. In any series-parallel battery layout, make sure you do not have more than two cables connected to any single battery flag terminal, as the terminal may not be adequate in size or strength to support more.

Although theoretically we could wire batteries together in as many series and parallel configurations as needed to provide any voltage and amp-hour capacity, having a large number of batteries in parallel is not desirable. If a battery or battery cell fails in an individual series wired string, the battery bank voltage for that series string drops or the voltage output stops completely. If a battery or battery cell fails in a group of batteries wired in parallel, the adjacent string of good batteries will try to flow current into the string having the bad battery or battery cell, which becomes another system load.

Since most battery interconnect wiring uses fairly large size cables, a cell failure can result in very large currents discharging from one parallel string into another, causing melted battery cables or a boiled dry cell giving off lots of smoke and explosive gasses. It is a good idea to limit your battery bank to no more than four battery strings wired in parallel, with two parallel strings that much safer. You can also reduce the risk associated with batteries wired in parallel by installing a “catastrophic” fuse in each individual series string of a parallel-wired battery bank.

The easiest way to increase battery bank capacity is to switch to a higher voltage system. Since most of today’s 12-volt DC appliances, DC lighting, and DC to AC inverters are now available in 24-volt and 48-volt versions, a 24-volt system will need four 6-volt batteries in series and a 48-volt system will need eight 6-volt batteries in series to achieve the higher voltage. For example, a 48-volt battery bank having sixteen 6-volt batteries would only require two parallel strings of eight batteries each (8 batteries x 6-volts).

NOTE: In all of these wiring examples, the positive (+) and negative (-) connections are located at opposite ends of each battery bank. This causes the electrical path to be equal in length and resistance regardless of which way the electricity flows, resulting in an equally balanced charge and discharge for each individual battery.
Battery protection


Catastrophic battery DC safety fuse on left. Note much larger size of 15-amp DC circuit breaker (center) compared to a standard 15-amp AC circuit breaker (right).

If you have ever dropped a wrench across the terminals of a car battery you know how easy it is to melt metal, even at this low voltage.

Every wire connected to the positive (+) terminal of any battery or group of batteries should pass through a fuse to prevent serious damage if there is a system short.

You should also understand that an AC fuse or AC circuit breaker would not safely protect a DC wiring circuit. DC electricity does not cycle to zero volts like AC electricity, and a constant DC electrical flow will try to “weld” the switch contacts together when the arc forms as the fuse or circuit breaker starts to open. Safety devices rated for DC use need to be of much heavier construction than the same amp capacity device intended for AC circuits.

When using multiple batteries to increase the voltage and capacity of your battery bank, be sure to use the proper size and type cables for these interconnects and keep them as short as possible. Do not use automotive or marine type cables or welding cables, as these are not UL listed for residential wiring. UL listed red and black battery interconnects 9 and 12 inches long, made from #2/0 multi-strand flexible copper cable, with machine crimped all copper terminals on each end, are fairly inexpensive and available from any solar supplier.

Using improper safety devices or undersized low cost non-copper cables and connectors is no place to save money. Be sure your backup power system uses the correct wire sizes for the loads and batteries used, and be sure each circuit is protected by the proper size and type safety device. Our next issue will address everything you wanted to know about battery inverters to power your AC loads.


Jeff Yago is a licensed professional engineer and certified energy manager with over 25-years experience in the energy conservation field. He is also certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners as a licensed solar installer and a licensed journeyman electrician. He has extensive solar thermal and solar photovoltaic system design experience and has authored numerous articles and texts.

[Joint pain and inflammation]

Joint pain and inflammation can be the result of uric acid in the system.  If uric acid is not eliminated normally, it can build up in the blood stream leading to joint inflammation and pain (gout).

Measures for how to reduce uric acid in diet and foods that help to reduce uric acid levels:

    * Tofu which is made from soybean is a good choice. Tofu can alter the plasma protein concentration and increase uric acid clearance and excretion.
    * Uric acid level in the body can be reduced by cutting down on the foods that contain high amounts of purines. Foods with high purine content include anchovies, broth, roe, sardines, yeast, sweetbread and mincemeat.

Avoid these foods totally.
Some foods have moderate purine content like fish, lentils, asparagus, mushrooms, spinach and shellfish. One serving of meat, fish or fowl or one serving of vegetables is allowed daily. Foods low in purine are fruits, olives, vinegar, cereal and cereal products, and rice. These foods can be consumed daily.
    * Have foods that are relatively high in carbohydrates, moderate in protein and low in fat. Complex carbohydrates like whole grain cereals, fruits and vegetables contain fiber that can help in proper digestion of the foods and assimilation of the nutrients. Fiber can avoid excessive build up of the uric acid.
    * Reduce the intake of protein rich foods to 15 percent. Prefer soybean that has been defatted, lean meat and sprouts  that provide good quality protein but low fat content.
    * Fresh fruits like apples, bananas, oranges and lime are beneficial. Cherries are considered to be beneficial in reducing uric acid levels.

      You can have juice of black cherry which is also called sour cherry. Cherries contain certain natural chemicals that can lower uric acid levels and reduce inflammation.
    * Excess alcohol can increase uric acid production. Avoid the consumption of alcohol.
    * Drink plenty of water or fluids (3 liters/day) like fresh juices or soups that can help in the excretion of uric acid.


Certain guidelines that can be helpful in reducing uric acid levels are:

    * Maintain an ideal body weight. Gradual weight loss is beneficial rather than drastic loss weight. You can reduce your body weight by dietary modifications and exercise.
    * You can consult a doctor who can help you in reducing uric acid levels. Get the uric acid levels checked regularly.

[4. Saugatuck, MI]

Saugatuck captured 4th place in the USA on " The Coolest Small Towns In America" list.  Congratulations to all 21 finalists who were selected by Budget Travel to participate in this contest. If they weren't terrific they wouldn't have been on this list!

THE RESULTS  ( TOP Eight) )
 
1. Ely, MN ( population 6264)
 
2. Cloverdale, CA  ( population 8153)
 
3. Brevard, NC  ( population 6789)
 
4. Saugatuck, MI  ( population 954) 
 
5. Kennett Sq, PA  ( population 6000)
 
6. Cuero, TX  ( population 3671)
 
7. Branden, OR  ( population 3248)
 
8. Nyack, NY   ( population  6833)
 
For more interesting Saugatuck news, check out this NY Times Article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/travel/03saugatuck.html