Fragments From Floyd

Just what-if, mind you. What if the room here was not bathed each night in the glow of the monitor screen, no canister lights bathed the kitchen in 200 watts of light, and my desk lamp was nothing more than a gooseneck paperweight? Sure, this is always a possibility as hurricane season, then winter approaches. And toward this risk, we've squirreled away a couple of bags-of-100 chaffing dish candles. We have two wall-mounted gas lights fed by the 300-gallon tank outside, but only one wick between the two of them. And I'm wondering, what if we were seriously out of power, not for a few days, not even for a few weeks, but for long, dark months? We need at least to be able to read when the sun goes down, and have enough light to tune the crank radio, load the woodstove and find each other in the dark.

So I'm looking at Aladdin Oil Lamps, Deitz-type Hurricane Lamps, and the Petromax Lantern as possible solutions to our emergency lighting needs.

In the search, I've found some pages that may be useful to a few others, and in turn, if you have experiences (good or bad) with any of these forms of fueled lighting, do let me know. I'd like to order within a week.

Aladdin Lamp tips

Aladdin parts and products

Nuwick 120 hour candles (can be used for light cooking also)

Petromax BriteLyt. "These lanterns were used during WWII, as a means of lighting, heating, & cooking. The lantern is used by NATO forces, as well as various paramilitary groups around the world. The lantern's appearance & parts have not changed since their development, and they are still being constructed of solid brass, nickel plating." While these pressure-lamps put out a heck of a lot of light, they seem tedious to get going, and also make that backpacking-stove hiss that I'd not enjoy listening to while enjoying the eerie quiet of times without electricity--one of the benefits of power blackouts, I guess.

Let there be light. The kind remains to be determined. Bright ideas?