I too have an oil lamp and some big old ugly candles I bought in a post Christmas sale for 25 cents each about the time they were warning that California was going to be seeing lots of brown outs. But I certainly do not have a battery powered tv. Last big power outage, I knit by candlelight and even read a little.

That was some wind last nite.
Went out front to see the damage, and found my DOOR MAT blown off the porch and up the sidewalk.

That same storm came through here, Glenda, with lots of trees down in surrounding areas, but no damage on my street.

Yes, I have two oil lamps and oil for them. I grew up using them for light, along with an Alladin lamp which had a mantle of some delicate stuff that amplified the light from the wick. Much brighter for reading.

I now have a generator of sorts that I bought on line... it will run a lamp for awhile, and might even make coffee. It will also charge a battery. I don't use it often, but it sure is nice when needed.

We've had more thunder today.

Yes, I have several oil lamps. Some of them are fairly old. We also have a generator if the power goes off for very long. It is good to be able to pump water and run the freezers and things for a bit if you are without power for some days as we have had to put up with before.

Sue

We have a few oil lamps, lots of candles and some battery powered lanterns for just this reason. We also have a storm radio/tv. We have had a couple of really bad ice storms that took our power out.

Trish

Power only goes out here for 30 seconds or so. I have oil lamps, two propane lanterns and a two burner propane stove. The power used to go out for longer periods of time when I lived in CA. There it was usually because a car hit a power pole.

I live in hurricane/tropical storm/tornado country candles, flashlights, lanterns, white gas and butane stoves from the camping/fishing gear, crank power emergency radio for news and charging cell phones and more emergency light, food, H2O, medical pack and a gas generator (for the days or weeks power outages) are standard equipment. Though I must admit my all time personal favorites are the antique, handed down from Great great great grandparents, Oil lamps. I am lucky enough to have at least one for every room in my home. They have been the first flicker of light in many many power outrages. They also can generate some real heat to warm up the smaller rooms a bit in those Northern climates.
CT

I don't have any thing prepared for something like that except flash lights and we have my MIL's oil lamp. I have 72 years experience, gas failure once when I was a little girl and electrical power failure once about 15 years ago. We managed very well.

I have three that I used to use often during power outages--plus I like the look of them and lit them just because. But until I buy the newer smokeless fuel I won't be using them anymore. The smokeless costs a little more but well worth it to keep all that greasy stuff off the walls and ceilings.

We have an old,old oil lamp. Used it not too long ago. This spring we had freezing rain and ice coated power lines. Sure enough power went out. Had to find it in the dark! LOL Of course the flashlight wasn't where it was supposed to be either, so took awhile to find something to light at first.
Dang DH carries stuff around and sets it down and then you can't find it in its usual spot when you need it!

We are about 1 block from the busiest intersection in our town but our power goes off if we have more than a good breeze. I guess we are at the end of a line. A few years ago our son bought us a generator, which we love. Before that the next door neighbor always had power so we would run a cord from their house to ours and hook up the freezer and refrigerator. We had a gas stove installed in the living room fireplace and that doesn't need electricity except for the fan and the generator takes care of that. The generator interferes with the tv so we don't watch it.
Pat

I have 6 oil lamps 2 are antiques from my grandmother and DH's DGM.They are always full of lamp oil for emergencies.We don't need them often but I know they are always ready when we do.I also have a big flashlight by my bed so I can find the lamps.
Me......I just watch TV by lamplight!

We have a generator. Yes, we have oil lamp but do not use it, as it smokes up the house.

My oil lamps don't smoke, cause the glass covers don't get smoked up, huh?

Don't know why. I bought the oil from Wal Mart years ago. Maybe I'm lucky!

Have a couple of oil lamps, sure could use a generator.

So I am unlucky. My oil lamps come from my DH's great great grandmothers farm. Tried a couple of them once...Only once. We are so far back in the woods we Have to have a generator. We have flashlights and yankee candles to get me by. (:-)

rthummer-What kind of oil do you use in the lamps? Maybe you are turning them up too high? That will cause them to smoke.Sometimes trimming the wick will help that too.Wish we had a generator.We don't need anything like that very often but it's nice to have if you do.

I turn the wick down low, no smoke!

Is your battery TV digital? I think ours is analog. Most of our flashlights are nonworking at the moment. The kids keep dropping them.

I have a Aladdin Lamp,a Coleman battery lamp and several of those wind up flashlights.

We are on an Island, in one of it's more rural areas, when the power goes out we are last to get it back.

Since we have lots of windstorms, I also bought those round tap lights at Costco with the LED bulbs. I have them under the cabinets, in the bathrooms and in the hallways,and one stuck in the drawer of the nightstand. Kathy

Kerosene (oil) lamps were a staple when I was on the farm as a kid, but I no longer have any. What I do have is two Coleman/mantle type pump-up lanterns. These provide a lot of light and my little, single mantle one, is very bright. These provide much more light than a kerosene lamp. The downside is these mantle lanterns burn and run much hotter, thus have increased fire hazard. These are my camping lanterns, but I have used them around the house for odd jobs. I do not like to operate them inside my house, and I take them outdoors for startup.

I use battery operated lamps. I don't like to mess with fire.

We have a couple of "hurricane oil lamps" that we keep on our mantle. But we have a generator down in the garage too at the ready and have used it a time or two. Plus we have lots of candles. I purchased a case of Yankee Candles when we went to their outlet store once some years back.

Helen

No oil lamps, but we do have a Coleman lantern, hurricane candles, flashlights including one humongous one. Need to check our battery supply. We also have a Coleman stove and the gas grill if the electric's out for 4 or more days like it has been in the past. We have a weather radio and a "boom box", too. Have plenty of canned goods and we keep the car gassed up in summer--just in case.

Tell me about your travel fans. That would probably help when we have no air for days at a time. I'm guessing they are battery operated???

Lisa asked if your TV was digital or analog. I was going to ask you, too. I saw an article in the paper that if it's analog, it will no longer work. But you can buy a battery adapter for them. Just thought you might want to check yours out before an emergency strikes.

I was wondering about the battery TV's. They won't work if they are analog- since you would need the converter gox. I didn't know they had battery converter boxes - I bet those aren't cheap, LOL!

I have a couple old oil lamps, and like said above - they don't smoke if you turn the wick down.