So, although in many ways we’ve been set for years for power outages (wood stove, oil lamp, alarm clock that works on batteries, lots of flashlights) after this latest outage we realized that we still had some needs that weren’t being met. A trip to Target and a purchase from Amazon has now taken care of those needs.

First up was a power pack. We ordered a Xantrex Powerpack 600 Watt Jumpstarter, Power Inverter and Backup Power Source. This turned out to be far more useful than the UPS we had been considering. A battery that can be recharged on an AC (house) current or using the DC current in the car.

Now we’ll have hot water (our gas water heater has a blower motor that runs on electricity. Stupid idea.) and can run the refrigerator short periods of time. It’s supposed to last for several hours, is supposed to quick charge on DC power, and has enough juice to jump start a car (something that would have been very useful this summer when the switch on the trunk light went bad.)

I’ve got high hopes for this product.

The other thing we got were two Coleman lights, the Coleman Rugged Battery Powered Lantern. The oil lamp we had was okay, but it was somewhat hot and smoky. These lamps are as bright as some of the lamps in our house. Bright enough that my grandmother and I could sit in the living room and read.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the perfect lamp.

Of course I also spent a fair amount on batteries, but hey, that’s just something you have to live with when you have transformers arc and blow up on the power lines just out side your house twice in two years. (Let me tell you, if you want exciting, an arcing power line is all KINDS of exciting. When the first one blew Michael and I thought there was an insane amount of lightening (for at least a minute) because we couldn’t see anything but white light when we looked out the window. This one, my grandmother thought the house was on fire. That kind of exciting.)