Mary, I stayed with friends in June (that impromptu stay in the Davis Mountains when my transmission was being rebuilt) and they have a lot of power flickering and occasional outages. I realized that they have switched to the most efficient flashlights (LED are now quite bright and they last a long time because they only produce light, they don't waste energy giving off heat). I've been able to participate in sales to get a half-dozen small lights to replace the clunky ones. My power is more reliable, but there is no reason not to also have a good supply of emergency flashlights.

The bucket swap has been accomplished. They're very pretty - these farmer's buckets come in bright jewel tones.

SRS