I have no idea about Montana. What is your gardening zone?! How cold have you already gotten? Also, there are many species of Prickly Pads. The ones that are sold in the East are Opuntia humifusa (Eastern Prickly Pear); but lots of species of Opuntia are not cold hardy. Keep in mind, O. humifusa looks completely different in the Winter! They normally shrivel up and lose the rich green color. They ain't dead! It's just that when it gets really cold, the plants move water out the leaf pads, as soon as Spring returns, the pads rehydrate and turn green again. O. humifusa is native to the East Coast from Florida up to Cape Cod (up to approximately Zone 7a). So, they are unusual among cacti for cold tolerance AND WET tolerance, the combination of which is FATAL to most all cacti. Mine have regularly been under mounds of snow and always return. I would think that a Montana winter would offer some advantage as you are soooo much drier in mid Winter, and it's soooo WET here even in mid Winter. I would think that a snow cover would offer protection if the winters go below 0 F. You could take cuttings, I have a bunch on the surface of some palms that I overwinter in the garage, but they are perfectly cold and freeze hardy to at least 0 F.

"I'm still wondering about the questions I asked a few days ago. If we could agree on some kind of rational number of birds cats kill, what would become of the birds if we removed the threat of cats? At their reproduction rate, would they overpopulate within a few years? Everyone is saying the cats are such a grave threat on the birds; we'd have to be talking about millions of birds just given the number of ferals out there. I'm envisioning that the old Alfred Hitchcock movie :) Everything has a cause and effect. No cats outside = more birds = less butterflies/ beneficial insects and less food for coyote. No?" Good to think about. The problem is that the people who blame cats for destroying bird populations are completely ignoring their own culpability in the decline of avian populations. Any homeowner using fertilisers and pesticides is endangering the birds (and other wildlife). Anyone who builds or buys a new home contributes to habitat destruction, which results in bird population decline. Commercial farming operations contribute to avian population decline. The local guy who calls himself a landscaper because he has a big lawn mower and a pesticide permit is a single-handed death machine causing avian population decline. Golf courses are big juicy contributors to natural declines of all sorts of populations. All of these not only directly kill birds, but add to levels of toxins in waterways, killing fish and other aquatic creatures, including some food sources for the birds who "the cats are killing". I wonder how many birds are eating the poisoned insects that suburban homeowners spray? Yet the folks who blame cats for the destruction of bird populations glibly ignore all this. My neighbour's dog was fantastic at grabbing birds who were unlucky enough to fly within his leap range-he killed far more birds than the feral cats who drag their kills to my front walk. I suppose that means that ALL dogs are out to DECIMATE the wild bird populations. Silly? not at all, in light of the view taken on cats. Other bird killers include raccoons, skunks and opossums, coyotes and foxes, plus birds of prey and even other birds who destroy eggs in the nest to eliminate competition for resources. But, LIKE CATS, most of these animals ALSO kill and consume VERMIN-such as rats, mice, and insects (skunks love eating grubs too!). I've seen a raccoon grab a grass snake and put it to death. Oh noes! That must mean that raccoons are decimating the grass snake populations! There are no credible figures for the cats-destroying-birds claims. It's a lot of alarmist bs but people will believe what they want to believe without making the effort to verify the crap they're swallowing. Even the basic ability to use rational thought would make it apparent that cats aren't as huge a problem as they so desperately want to believe. NO ONE knows how many cats are in, for example, the US, let alone how many are feral, how many are working cats (barn cats), and how many are pets let outdoors. Therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to know how many birds the cats are killing. It is impossible to exclude cat kills from all other factors. And the problem of bird over-population, although remote, is a pretty disgusting concept of its own. Sure, I love to hear the songbirds. But I don't want their poop all over my house and gardens and yard and trees. I don't want to worry about illnesses that sicken and kill birds possibly sickening and killing people. I do believe that the animals, whose existence the "cats destroy bird populations" camp are apparently unaware of, and the pesticides and fertilisers and habitat destruction that they also don't seem to know about, would keep the bird populations in check. Are cats a problem? They can be. But to be blamed for all of the causes of avian population decline is inaccurate. And that's the nicest way I know to say it. I still agree with the original poster-KEEP YOUR PET CATS INSIDE. They are safer indoors, as long as the home environment is well monitored. And they're not annoying other people if kept indoors. If you have feral cats, get busy with Trap-Neuter-Release. Around here we can trap a cat on our properties and have it spayed or neutered-even if it has a collar identifying it as a pet. Keeping the outdoor cat population in tight control is healthier for everyone. Cats will always be blamed for more havoc than they can create. I wish we had the same freedoms with the unneutered dogs that are let to terrorise the neighbourhood. I wonder what avian population declines would be blamed on by the "cats kill bird populations" camp if all the cats were removed? Avian populations would still decline and any change might not even be noticeable.

What you seem to be seeking seems not possible. If you want it protected by the elements during non-use, you want an enclosure that won't allow exhaust to escape when it is running. I would look into one of those plastic mini-sheds, and locate that next to a pad of some sort--perhaps using flagstone or pavers. Then when you need the generator, roll it out of the little shed onto the pad and fire it up. Here is a link that might be useful: rubbermaid shed

Something that would be really simple but effective would be a push-on battery-operated light. That is, it would be effective only if the kids remembered to turn it off when not in use! Solar lights don't typically provide a lot of light, and you'd need to be in a sunny area for them to work well. You can install motion sensors with almost any system you use. If this is a long-term project, I think solar would be easier on the budget after a few years just due to the ongoing battery expenses running up the bill. Looks cute!