sb country n news-rainwater system

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-RAINWATER SYSTEM

i was thinking as she said
theres this grant that we can get for doing something green
that will pay for improvements in the garden

i instantly thought
rainwater system

now i realize that it doesnt rain here that much
the annual rainwater is about 1/3 of what austin texas gets
however
if you catch the rain when it rains
catch as much as possible
thats x gallons of water that doesnt get pulled
from the water systms
and
thats x gallons of water that doesnt just flow out
to the ocean

so
i told her
how about a rainwater collection system i said
do it she said
come up with some figures on what the $300 could
be spent on

i got this i said
since
i put in a 30,000 gallon system at our country n
all by myself
i put in a 3000 gallon tank in my wife shes first school
and
later put in a 1500 gallon tank in another school
plus
i helped a neighbor design and put in his
20,000 gallon system

yep
i got this i said
a  piece of cake

then at an alzheimers meeting
one of the fellow volunteers and i were talking about gardening
and rainwater
she said i got these two barrels that we just never hooked up
you want them
you betcha i said

so i painted those
put in screens at the top
put in the faucets

then
i ordered online 3 more tanks that had all of the connections
like the faucets drain holes screens already done
at a cheaper price than i could do
so
i ordered them

well
we only got one instead of three
so
amazon said
you keep that one and well send you 3  more
so
now im waiting on those other three

so
i painted the blue tank from amazon a nutmeg color
so it would match the other tanks that were donated

now
i took down part of the downspout
replaced it with a 2 inch pvc
that allowed the water to flow easily down into the tank

i hooked all three tanks in a series
using 1/2 inch irrigation tubing from the home center
thats buried underground

when we get the other three tanks
ill paint them
and
hook them up in the series

the two donated ones are 35 gallons
the bought ones are 60 gallons
so when we are finished
we will have 310 gallons of rainwater collection capacity

water that will be used in the garden over the next few
months instead of draining to the sea

the goal i think
is to use these tanks as a teaching tool
for art english writing science math
and
for the kids enjoyment

those veggies
they always prefer rainwater over city water every time

as i went over to the school to check it during the rains
our tanks were filling up
the other gutters were flowing all that water
out onto the grass
out onto the driveway
out
you got it into the ocean
carrying who knows what off the ground and the street
to the sea

add ecology to the teaching tool


flood update
death toll 17
over 100 homes destroyed
several hundreds are damaged
hundreds have been rescued
many by being airlifted out
dozens of folks are missing
the 101 freeway is still closed for a 30 mile stretch
its suppose to be opened on mlk day on monday
scooping up the mess is like shoveling soup
half is scooped up and half runs off the scooper

the alternate route will take 5-6 hours for a trip
that usually would take 30 minutes down the freeway
my relatives still havent been able to see their new home yet
a well known tennis pro just got airlifted out of his place

thatcher update
he is a tough little guy
his valve seems to be working well
his band is doing its job
his pressures inside the arteries and heart are where they want them
he is still on the ventilator and is all swollen up
he is still paralyzed from the drugs
the plan is to wake him up today and extubate him
he will gradually be diuresed ie get the fluid off him
yep
he is a tough little guy

thanks to those who donated to his gofundme accout to help
his parents with expenses
thanks to those who wished him and his family well

here is thatchers gofundme account
#thatcher strong

use some of your charity money or some of your gift money
to help them out some

if you look at the pictures on the gofundme site you will
notice how thin his little arms are
so much of the energy and nutrition he takes in is being used
by his little heart that the rest of the body like the muscles
arent as big as they should be
that will change though as he recovers
i see a little chubby kiddo soon appearing in those pictures

thanks again

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-squirrels 9 togd 15

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-SQUIRRELS 9 TOGD 15

at the school garden where i help the kids garden
the varmints were winning
big time
they ate all the peas not once but 3 times
they ate all the nice tender carrots as they emerged from the ground
they ate all the lettuce and spinach plants
they left the strawberry plants alone
they ate all the broccoli the kales the cilantro the swiss chard
the parsley
no they didnt eat the rosemary mint lemon balm sage garlic
the herbs seem to be winning the war
so
they ate all the veggies more than once

they were winning the war
so
i went all out to try to keep them out of the garden
so
i dug up every bed
replaced any missing wire barrier to the gophers
you can see their little tunnels through the wire
i guess if any roots pops through
they snag it
ill give them all those they want

as i wrote before
i made cages from pvc that fit each bed
covered it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth
attaching it with zip ties
latches were placed on each side to hold it in place
those dang squirrels actually lift up or dig under the frames
the latches worked

the hardware cloth kept out the little birds and the rest
of the varmint crew

those little birds they would crawl right through the chicken wire
using it as a perch to eat the veggies

the cages
are real light
are easily moved around
wont ever rot

so i replanted everything again
using plants and seedings to try to get it back to where the kids
planted theirs
which the varmints all consumed
but
not this time

so after over 3 weeks nothing has happened to the veggies
that were replanted

the kids all approved

squirrels 9 togd 15

a fellow alzheimers committee member gave us two
rainwater tanks and a large composter
i used my rainwater tank skills to convert the tanks to
usable collectors of water
adding three coats of paint
adding faucets
adding screening to the top holes to keep trash out
and water in

our next project is put in a 200+ gallon rainwater system
to water the school garden
the garden received a $300 grant to pay for it
we have 3 more tanks coming
i will put all them in a series to collect the rain off the
schools roof

then the composter
we had a compost party
adding sticks and branches
leaves lots of torn up fall leaves
lots of torn up newspapers and cardboard
lots of stuff removed from the garden area
like vines old plants weeds
you name it we chunked it in there
we added some pine cones
some plastic to show how it dont break down

then
i brought a couple of bags of compost from the community garden
we spread it out over the cardboard
they dug through it looking for things
like
worms
roly  polys
beetles
caterpillars
insects
they found them all
they was no squeamishness at all
there were a lot of dirty little hands
but with a lot of smiles on their faces

it makes it worthwhile

hopefully all this stimulates some of them to develop a love
for gardening
i hope so

it makes it all worth it

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-country n woes

COUNTRY N NEWS-COUNTRY N WOES

last saturday i left the house at 600 am
headed to do this landscape at the habitat for humanity house

i always get there early
as i want to get everything set up for the landscape project
that day

these kids from 5 different schools
yes i talked my wife she to help this time
were about to show up to finish the landscape

usually this is the best day for me
when i volunteer at habitat for humanity
getting to work with the high school kids
visiting with them as we go along

as i was getting things ready
my wife she called
we dont have no water

i said
ok
ill deal with it when i get home

so
7 hours later
after finishing the habitat landscape
i entered the realm of the unknown

now we live 30 miles from town
electricians plumbers dont like to come this far out
its always been a problem for us out here
so
you just learn to do some of the things yourself

i once had a plumber come out to fix several things
he looked it all over
let me see if i have the parts
last i heard from him
so
i just figured out how to fix the plumbing issues myself

now we have a rainwater water system not a well
so everything is at ground level
i put it together myself
doing all the plumbing and electrical stuff myself
following this books directions
rainwater collection for the mechanically challenged

so i looked at the pump that had a pressure of zero
it should be around 40-50 psi
i checked to see if the shutoff had electricity
it did according to my meter
now
i still dont understand how this happened
so
this told me either my fuses were out
or
i had a dead pump
we had been having some issues with it lately also
so
i got in my car drove the 20+ miles to get new fuses
sorry the old gent said
we outta that one
you reckon home depot or lowes has them
dont know he said
i never go to those places
so
off to the next town
another 15 miles further away from the country n
yep
that home depot had the ones i needed
so
off back home i went
with my two fuses in tow
then
i plucked them into places
switched back on the shutoff
nothing

so now its saturday late around 5ish
after
working several hours on the landscape
i was tired and filthy and sweaty
greasy feeling like when you have camped out for
three days in the wilderness

i need a shower i said
oops
we aint got no water
then
i remembered
yes
you do
you got 30000 gallons sitting in all those tanks
but
you just cant pump it into the house
so
living away from our nearest neighbors by a 1/2 a mile
i hung a water hose over the input pipe to my largest tank
its about 6 ft high
plugged the hose into the bottom faucet on the tank
turned it on
took me a cold lengthy shower
a true outdoor refreshing shower it was

then
i took to thinking
it has to be the pump
so
the next morning on a sunday
i waited until the local store where i got my last pump
was opened
i knew if i got the same one i wouldnt have to change any fittings

wait
i could just call bud the well guy on monday
he would come over for a few bucks to check out the pump
last time i did that
he just said
you need a new pump
so
i decided to not wait for him to come over in a day or too
to tell me you need a new one
so
i just went and got me a new one

got it home
pulled out the old one
started putting the new one all together
robbing parts off the old one

i dont have one of the 1 inch metal pipes i need
since i couldnt get it out of the old one
plus
i had no pipe goop

oh my wife she
old buddy
old friend
ill owe you one
could you go get me some pipe goop and a pipe

that means a 30 minute one way trip
multiple phone calls
she called back
this guy helping me doesnt know anything about these pipes
mam a man and his wife walked up
what you need
so i had sent a picture of both
oh he said to my wife she
this is what you need

my wife sent me a picture of what she was about to buy
then called me
is this what you want
yes
please hurry home

so
i got all my stuff
rehooked it all back up to the rainwater system
checked for leaks after i turned the water supply
line on
no leaks
flipped that switch to on
no water

by now its 300 pm
im tired
im dirty sweaty again

i dont understand why this doesnt work

so i noticed my solar control system had a flashing red light
saying
power disconnect
no kidding

then
i remembered that my solar went into its own electrical box on
our light pole
it shared this with a few things
before a line ran into my main box

i opened the lid
carefully
i always get nervous when i do this
like a big ole lightning bolt of electricity
is going to shoot out and get  me

now
i dont want to die from alzheimers disease
but
i sure dont want to die this way

i switched all the switches off and on
didnt help

so by then
i was tired
ticked off

should i call an electrician out tomorrow
which may take a few days
call bud the pump guy

as i switched this one breaker off and on
it made this noise
i knew it shouldnt do that

maybe i thought those dang fire ants got in there
or some snake or something to short things out
but
we had full power inside the house

remember now all this has left us with no water in the house
its like camping out with a large lake nearby
since we had 30000 gallons of rainwater just sitting there

so i contemplated all night
even dreamed about it two nights
i dont understand it
hopefully an electrician will figure it out
if i can get one

now it had been real warm
we hadnt used any of our minisplit heat pumps
one for each room
for several days

a friend staying with us a few days
you know i turned mine on last night and it worked ok
so
i went to try to turn on the other three
none of them worked but hers did

now im really confused
my rainwater pump dont work
my solar system is off with a red flashing light
ive got electricity to my house
3 of 4 minisplits dont work

i dont understand this
then
a light came on
as i awoke on monday
thats two days later
its that damn breaker switch i think
having remembered that
the three minisplit were tied to the back panel
along with the rainwater pump and the solar system
their electricity came from a line
that came right to that big ole breaker that
was making this strange noise when i turned it off and on

im going to the store to get another new one
before i call that electrician that may not even come out

i remembered years ago that lowes had the right breakers
that fit into the electric panel
nothing wrong with my long term memory

so
yep
off i go 30 miles and back
huh in case you arent counting
thats
180 miles of driving so far

i got this breaker
plugged it all in
flipped it on

into the house i went
turned on all the minisplits
all of them worked
yes i pumped my fist

now i was getting excited

i went out to the barn
my solar control system was no longer blinking red
it was solarizing sending electricity into my panel

then
i walked over
carefully a little sweaty a little tachycardic
lifted up the cover on my shutoff box
slowly pushed in the control lever

guess what
it worked it worked

we got water finally after 3 days

now we have to wait to drink it
until we get our new filters in
then after changing those
we have to resterilize the lines
then
hopefully today sometime
we will have some
good ole country n water

my
how we have missed that sweet taste of our water

i realized
i am a electrician
i am a  plumber
i am a well man
i am a problem solver

this
sort of despite the three days of no water
made me feel good
to
realize that my memory hasnt been so affected
that i cant problem solve

theres always good to every story

the organicgreen doctor

it comes from above

IT COMES FROM ABOVE
the other day as i was skimming the news i saw this article
on this guy that was sentenced to 30 days for collecting
rainwater
i didnt read the article but thought last week as i was planning
this weeks blog
that i would write about his right to collect rainwater
but
when i read the article
he was collecting 13 million gallons of rainwater off his
property
seem a bit much to me
you can collect rainwater off your roof in his state oregon
just not dam things up and put up a 20 ft dam and
stock it with bass and fish

the folks around here have made ponds all over the place
in texas they are called tanks
which do hamper the flow of water down the streams
to get to the rivers
im sure a permit is required nowadays

heck they are now looking at requiring permits to do a rainwater
system in texas and have it inspected before its used
hope mine is grandfathered it

as i lay in bed this am i counted my tanks
someone asked me the other day if i had very many tanks
well i cant hold 13 million gallons
but i can hold close to 30,000 gallons

so i have 24 tanks
ranging in size from 15 gallons to 50 gallons to 300 gallons
to 500 gallons to 1100 gallons to 1500 gallons
to 3,000 gallons

i did my rainwater system in stages
people said you want this tank
i took it and hooked it up
then i gradually bought the others as they became available
i put them wherever i can



i have about 10,000 gallons for irrigation and
about 20,000 gallons for the house use
yes we drink rainwater cook with it wash dishes with it
wash our clothes and shower with it

its the gold standard for water

so i watched with interest as i saw  a video on a town in
california who has some of the strictest water laws in the
state
the state just passed more stringent rules on water use
this town was already doing it

i noticed in the background as a group was biking through
the park that the grass was a brown as brown could be
i think maybe around here we may need to do some of that
as the lakes are again on that downward slope of being empty
like someone opened the drain

then in california we have friends and relatives that live there
yes some of them have added rainwater collection tanks
to their houses and they aggressively conserve water since
they are running out
thats what happen when you build large cities in the desert
duh

here at the country n
we do all these conservation things every day whether
we have full tanks or half empty tanks
as we know we are at the mercy of

what comes from above

the organicgreen doctor

aichtooh

AICHTOOH
thats the phonetic spelling of h2o
or for those nonchemistry folks thats
water

cactus bloom

in the last two weeks we got about 3 inches of rain
and
for those who collect and especially those of us
who rely on rainwater for our water system
that rain came at an important time
as
we head into our driest time of the year
without that rain the country n owners were looking
at possibly buying water which i hate to do

another type of cactus with flower

now i know most of you buy your own water
but
when you have it delivered in a water truck
you pay $300+ for 3000 gallons

the average homeowner in austin texas uses 7,727
gallons a month

we at the country n use about 1500 gallons a month

if it was delivered that would cost them $0.1 a gallon
so their bill would be $772.70

um maybe that would be a way to curb some of the water
use by raising the cost

plant salvaged from destruction from westwood high school

so i got about 1800 gallons per inch x 3 inches =5400 gallons
of water from that rain
thats $540 if i had bought it

the average homeowner in austin would have sucked that up
and out the drain in about 20+- days

native wildflower firewheel

what made me think about all this
is
austin is about to hit a water crisis soon
they are conserving water fairly well but could do better
this conservation has made the price of water climb
since less water is bought
less money in coming into the city
they have fixed water costs that arent being met well

i say raise the prices
let the market control the water use
not sure if that works well though

salvia greggi or autumn sage

i was at a friends house last night looking at his landscape
he is on the austin water system
he can only water the yard and landscape once a week
it still looks pretty lush
thanks i guess to the weekly watering and the recent rains

he has landscaped away a lot of his grass
and more is planned

he rocked that no mans land between the sidewalk and the
curb which covers half the length and width of his lot
he is on a corner lot

the other no mans land at one side of his house where
no one ever goes
you know most home owners have this spot
he is covering it with black plastic and rocks so he can stop
watering it and mowing it and fertilizing it and deweeding it etc

zexmenia

then i looked at all his landscape
he and the person that helped him choose his plants
did a good job
they are mostly xeric natives
and are in the grow green pamplet from the city of austin 

i reminded him which he didnt know that he could get some
reimbursements and credits on his water bill from all the
landscaping he had done
several hundreds of dollars

now i have the same plants he has minus a few that tend to
not do as well here
like indian hawthorne magnolia tree etc

crossvine

he waters his plants
yes they look good
but so do mine
in fact they look the same

my water use on my landscape is zero
his well he is an average austin homeowner

he could cut off the drippers to all of his landscape
and only water them during all the real dry times
or
not at all
he would have to accept some browning of some
of the plants when it gets real dry
but
these xeric native plants dont die

thistle

i have a solution
only xeric natives can be planted
no supplemental irrigation is allowed
unless
its provided from rainwater collected off the roof
a requirement that should be made when homes are
built in this area

heck what if all those big mansion high schools that they
build around here were equipped with rainwater collection
systems to collect water for irrigation and flushing toilets

you know we are paying for them and we are paying their
water bills

eventually the added expense will pay for itself over time
either at home or at school

but
i guess nothing like this will happen until its too late
thats what we always seem to do here in america
crisis management

(note these pictures are a few of the flowering plants i have
planted in our yard at the country n
zero nadda no water has been used on these plants)

well here at the country n
we are well ahead of the curve

the only problem is
i may have to buy new fencing to keep people out
i may have to buy guns to protect my water supply
i may have to get another mean guard dog

sure hope it doesnt come to that
we all could just practice conservation
and
collect rainwater

the organicgreen doctor

my things

MY THINGS
since i have retired i have my things that i like to
be involved in and promote
like
habitat for humanity volunteering
meals on wheels delivery
blogging
giving advise-doing this one is cheap-
on medicine
gardening
organic of course
rainwater collection
xeric gardening
solar power
setting up a small garden
recycling things
sports especially football and basketball
and
alzheimers diesease
anything that will promote awareness of this disease

so this weekend i get to do three of these things

this am if the ice doesnt cancel it
i will be representing the alzheimers association at a volunteers fair
at sun city in georgetown texas
i get to wear purple and talk about alzheimers research
alzheimers programs available in this area
the walks to end alzheimers and more

this is a subject i can talk on all day long if someone will listen


then on saturday morning my wife she and i go to an
annual conference luncheon in dallas at ut southwestern
for those of us who volunteer our bodies to be researched on
there we get to hear whats going on at the research center
and whats going on nationally

i usually know most of whats going on since i keep up
with all the alzheimers research nationally

one of the upcoming research studies involves giving one of
the new alzheimers vaccine that removes the bad gooey
beta amyloid from the brain
it starts soon
im one year too young but attempts are being made to
get me into this one

the secret in the future will be to start treatment as early as possible
even before symptoms start
those studies are going on now here in the us and elsewhere

i usually learn something since the researchers are all there
talking about their research studies

then
i go slightly south of dallas and meet with a professor at
a large university who is putting a rainwater collection
system on her barn
the water to be used in her garden and maybe to water her horses
and trees
she has access to water but its restricted because of
water restrictions in the area

i do look forward to infecting her with the rainwater
collection virus
she may not know how contagious it is even though she
is a biologist
there is no vaccine or cure known so far

she has 3 tanks to hook up
ive warned her that she needs to plan for more since
those tanks will fill up real fast

its hard for a rainwaterer to sit and watch the water
run over out of the tanks or over the gutters
for
you see
there is only one cure
more tanks

hopefully with these three events this weekend
i can spread the word
to
end alzheimers now
save the rain

the organicgreen doctor

some things in life are free

SOME THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
today i started to write more on obamacare and my venture into
signing up
and
on the government shutdown
but
ive decided to wait a few days to let things slow down before i
venture back on the www.healthcare.gov website to restart my
application for my obamacare insurance
and
i think weve all heard enough about the government shutdown
and
we all are mad about it no matter our political persuasion

after all they are sent there to govern and take care of us
i agree with some facebook postings that i know 550 people
in washington that should not get paid
dont you

so today i want to write about something that is free to all who
want to use it
you know there is not many things that are free any more
for now
as the government as i blogged about lately is wanting to tax it
and even regulate it

thats rainwater collection
here at the country n we have been collecting rainwater for
our home use and garden irrigation now for almost 10 years
there is no charge for me to have the water
run off my metal roofs
go down the downspout after running through a foam filter in
my gutters
run into a 300 gallon first flush tank that catches any debri
then
go down a 4 inch pipe to my 2500 gallon tank thats connected to
21000 gallons of tanks
where it goes through a sock filter to catch if anything in the water

there it sits until we turn on the water faucet
the water flows through a check valve that keeps it from having
backflow back into my collection tanks
goes through my water pump
which forces the water under pressure through a 15 micron filter
a 5 micron filter a 5 micron carbon filter to a ultraviolet light
which sterilizes the water
we then catch the water in our glass and drink it

the cost of the water is zero
of course there are start up costs
and
filter changes every 4 months with the initial filter change every month
the electrical cost of having the pump run when the water is turned on

but its nice to know
that im drinking water that is pure
not contaminated
no chlorine etc added
and its free to collect
for now

this week i will put compost on my wife shes fall garden at her school
and
will help my cowgirl sisterinlaws school plant their initial fall garden

when i am at the schools and when i look at the schools roof on google
all i can think about is man that is a lot of square footage that
could be collecting rainwater

for each 1000 square foot of roof you can collect 600 gallons of rainwater
multiply that by your kids schools roof area and
folks thats an awful lot of water
that runs out onto the ground
down the sidewalk
into the street
down the street gutters into the sewer system

what if they when they built these new schools
these mansions that costs millions
added rainwater collection and used that water to irrigate the landscape
especially those football sports fields
flush the toilets etc
the maybe sell the excess to the city etc

there are so many schools in this area
heck we might be able to fill up these lakes that are getting empty

once the initial cost of setting up the catchment system there would
be little cost after that

so there are things in this world that are free
the other is sunlight
wonder if they could put panels on those roofs
and use that electricity

naw all that makes too much sense doesnt it

the organicgreen doctor