A little light discussion

I'm starting to go back to my roots - in this case my thoughts on lights.  In the dark.  In your house.  When the power goes out.

Have you thought about an extended power outage and how you would be able to see to get through the night?  Or even the inside of a dark closet?

Over the years my older son and I have developed somewhat of an obsession with flashlight or things that might be used for flashlights or even things that used to BE flashlights.  Every Christmas means another search for a type of light that we haven't already given each other

I have them just about everywhere:  there are three in my car.  One in the former cigarette lighter outlet - it has a little blue light on top that reflects on the windows and has the side effect of keeping me from speeding cause I always think it's the police.  It's extra cool because you can make it flash if you push the right button.  Currently I'm at about a 30% success rate on my button choice.

Then there is the expensive one I bought myself -  it comes with both a car and a house charger and is advertised as being able to blind an attacker in an emergency - I do know it throws a beam across a football field for sure.  Since I haven't been attacked I can't speak to the other attribute!

And in the center console I have a little LED one for backup - you know:  one is none and two is one...that attitude.

In the house I have the obligatory plug in one that I always forget to use cause it's way over there - plugged into an outlet.  I bought one of these for a friend when I found out she was using matches to see how much oil she had left in the tank.  I sincerely hope she is still using it or at least has run out of matches!

Also in the house I have a collection of solar/battery versions.  They lurk on sunny window sills just waiting for my power to go out.  Also in the house is a battery lantern from Coleman and another from LLBean - they put out some good "area" lighting when you need both hands free.

Along with all of the above I have a couple of head lights - lights that fit on a strap that goes around your head - also useful for when you need both hands free.

Something I do not have for light is candles or gas lanterns.  Candles are a great thing for ambiance at a dinner party but they sort of suck as a light source and an open flame is never a friendly thing to have just hanging around.  And gas lanterns - either liquid gas or even propane fueled - frankly scare the crap out of me.  The idea of sitting around next to what amounts to a controlled explosion just doesn't do it for me!

Needless to say (but I'm going to) in order for a lot of these light sources to function you have to have batteries - you have to keep an assortment of batteries - you have to KNOW where your assorted batteries are.  And you actually have to know what assortment you need.

I know perfectly well that the above bit of deathless prose isn't going to make everyone who reads it race to Amazon or Walmart and stock up on light sources.But when it's dark inside your house at night it's really really dark - I'm talking "what the hell did I just trip over" dark. And heaven forbid you have a reason to get out of Dodge in a hurry. It's a lot easier if you can see where Matt Dillon parked the horse!

Winter is far from over (sadly) and a power outage can last seconds or days - perhaps now would be a good time to give a little thought to your supply of lighting.  Doesn't have to be fancy or expensive:  it just has to be there when you need it.