Most days I don't get home until about 11 pm or midnight after work. So even in the middle of summer, it is usually pretty dark out, unless it is a clear night with a moon. Now everybody has that drawer in the kitchen where we shove the things we rarely use, like that electric turkey carver, or the 3rd bottle opener that someone gave you for Christmas. Or the flashlight, complete with dead batteries. Now, I'm not gonna harp about how you need to make sure each person in the house needs to know where a flashlight is and about changing the batteries every 3 months. Because truth to tell, batteries are a finite resource, and the likelyhood of laying away enough batteries to last you a life time is very remote. There are several ways to get light when you need it.
Oil lamps are prehaps my favorite way to have clear, bright, long lasting light. There is range of different types, from pure oil to parafin/oil mixes, and they usually come in either clear or blue, at least those are the only colors I have seen. And they are safe for use inside, as long as they are in a secure holder. Using a reflector will help to shed even more light, weither it is a mirror, a polished metal plate, or just a piece of aluminum foil over a piece of cardboard. Candles are my next favorite, and the same reasoning goes with reflectors. Now, both of these involve an open flame, so care most be taken with pets and small children, but the reason I prefer these to say a Coleman or propane light, is that there are fewer parts that would need to be replaced if something broke, and that they can use other fuels that can be made by people without a lot of techincal knowledge. Candles can be made from animal fat, and oil lamps can run on vegetable oil, though the light produced will not be of as high a quality with either subsitute.
The more you read and learn, even if it is only a little bit on this an that, will greatly enhance your chances in the case of something happening that could cut you off from ready supplies.
Oil lamps are prehaps my favorite way to have clear, bright, long lasting light. There is range of different types, from pure oil to parafin/oil mixes, and they usually come in either clear or blue, at least those are the only colors I have seen. And they are safe for use inside, as long as they are in a secure holder. Using a reflector will help to shed even more light, weither it is a mirror, a polished metal plate, or just a piece of aluminum foil over a piece of cardboard. Candles are my next favorite, and the same reasoning goes with reflectors. Now, both of these involve an open flame, so care most be taken with pets and small children, but the reason I prefer these to say a Coleman or propane light, is that there are fewer parts that would need to be replaced if something broke, and that they can use other fuels that can be made by people without a lot of techincal knowledge. Candles can be made from animal fat, and oil lamps can run on vegetable oil, though the light produced will not be of as high a quality with either subsitute.
The more you read and learn, even if it is only a little bit on this an that, will greatly enhance your chances in the case of something happening that could cut you off from ready supplies.