wwtogdd

WWTOGDD

yes thats me planking on the top of my barn a few years ago
behind me is our first set of solar panels
several years later we doubled the size of our solar panels so we produced about 70% of our electricity 
we were grid connected so we didnt do electric battery storage

what does wwtogdd mean
maybe my wife she would guess but probably not

it stands for what would the organic green doctor do
togd is an abbreviation given to me by a reader who started calling me togd after how i sign off my blogs

the organicgreen doctor

this is a picture of some of my rainwater tanks
i had six 3000 gallon tanks and three 1500 gallon tanks for home use
it was all ran through filters and uv light so it was pure clean rainwater

if the electricity would go off there would be no water being pumped to the house and no water could be pumped from the well
however since the water level was higher in the tanks than the sink you could turn on the sink in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom to get some water 
it flowed by gravity 

it just wouldnt be sterilized since the uv light would be off 

the electricity would go off frequently more so in the summer 
if you live in the rural areas of the us you probably experience the same thing

in our house we had a wood burning stove in the living room that could potentially if needed heat most of the house to keep things from freezing

we also had a fireplace in the dining room kitchen area

we had the ductless ac heater units to heat and cool the house

so if i still lived there after that devastating disaster that hit texas last week
what would i think about doing

i would think about putting in a battery storage system in our barn to store the generated electricity 
ie be off the grid
there are new battery systems like the tesla one that can be installed now to help store electricity 
if possible i would still try to remain on the grid somehow to have the best of both worlds

i would have a back up generator that operated off gasoline or have a backup propane generator
our friends had one in arkansas as a backup when the electricity went off since he had several pieces of medical equipment that he used

i would add a propane tank with a hook up to our fireplace in the dining room kitchen and one in the upstairs bedroom fireplace

so now i would have heat with 3 types of sources of energy 
wood
electricity 
gas

now the big issue would be frozen pipes
this deep freeze will have identified the weak spots in your insulated pipes
as many of you found out when the big thaw occurred

i remember when we got down to  8 degrees a few years ago the water started oozing and spewing when the big thaw occurred
i systematically redid the lines and super insulated them 
some were buried deeper under the ground
just talk to you relatives that live way up north 
they can tell you what to do 
i also brought in some fill dirt to make the soil depth deeper over my weak spots

i looked at my landscape 
it was easy to identify the plants that would not return to life
they were the non native species

i had a beautiful tall flat large pad cactus that was about 6 feet tall
it looked like someone had sucked all the air out of it

it was a goner
it didnt return 
warning 
be sure and remove all that big ole pile of dead cactus
it will smell like a sewer real soon if you dont
i speak from experience
the native cactus the prickly pear although bitten by the cold eventually recovered
the non native succulents were done for

all my trees and most of my shrubs and plantings survived since they were native to texas

i saw on social media all those plantings that i told my wife she as i looked at them
those plants are done for

think about staying with native plants in your yard 
they are adapted to this weather and should recover

yes
if i till lived there
i would be ordering me a generator 
maybe two of them 
knowing they would be used every year whenever the electricity would go out

then 
i would evaluate the battery storage choices

then
i would have a propane tank ordered with lines ran to the house
i might consider changing to a gas stove or gas water heater

then
i would put my plumber hat on like i lived in the dakotas and protect the pipes 

then
i would be ready for the next time

so 
thats what togd would do 

the organicgreen doctor