RE: Life without electricity...
We lost the power for 3 days this past winter in Texas,house [older pier & beam] got down to a balmy 32deg.I spent one night alone in the house with a flashlight,my I Pod [music] and a book and found it rather peaceful,,,well peacefully cold.Compared to other parts of the country this does'nt look too bad but here in this part of Texas it was UGLY.The snow which had already started to melt in the pic's was here for about 4 days,if it lasted a month or more like some of the Northern States we'd been in big trouble.
Summer is here now and temps are near or at the 100's and VERY humid.I've placed two 1 gallon buckets at the AC drain pipes outside the house to collect the water for the bushes and flower beds,been dumping 8+ full gallons a day[X(] for the past 3 weeks!