Solar Emergency Lights--What a Thought!

Thank God for friends! Some of the thoughts and ideas I share on this blog would be nice to take credit for because they are so clever, but God did not gift me with the wisdom of Solomon; however, He did gift me with droves of friends. One such friend recently shared an idea she used which came to her through the internet. She and her family were on vacation when a storm knocked out power service to the area where they were staying. Most times when on vacation we don’t think of preparing for emergencies and this was just such a time for my friend and her family. It was dead of night and pitch black dark. I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story…

“Due to a thunderstorm, we lost power for about 5 hours one night. We were scrambling around in the darkness, looking for matches, candles, and flashlights. Then we looked outside and noticed our Solar Lights shining brightly all around the patio, stairs & dock. We walked outside and brought several of the solar lights inside. We stuck the Solar Light pipes into plastic drink bottles and they made the nicest, brightest, safest, lighting you could imagine. We put one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen and in the living room.

There are many types of Solar Lights available. We bought quite a few and put them all around our yard. They look nice and do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway. The lights we have fit into 20-oz. water bottles and also fit into most larger 2 liter bottles. If you need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, put in a few of the colorful flat marbles they put in aquariums and vases. You can also use sand, aquarium gravel, or whatever you have available. These would be great for camping trips too.”

What a novel idea! The little solar lights used for decorative purposes to mark driveway entrances, walkways and beautify patios and other outdoor landscaping can become emergency lighting source when the lights go out… all year round. The little lights recharge the power source during the day and turn on during the evening for a few hours. I even have a couple of solar lights that look like bamboo torches and flicker as though there were candles in the globe.

So the little solar lights can do much more than beautify landscape, bring them in for party lighting besides using them in an emergency.

Thanks Larraine for the helpful information and thoughtful decorative tip!

Vacation Plans are on the Drawing Board and the camera is in the bag!

Now that school is almost out for the summer, you've probably begun to search the web for places to go... cheap places to go! With the price of gas migrating towards $4/gal you are probably thinking about something closer to home. Air travel seems to be a roll of the dice with the airlines playing musical chairs with one another and trying to cover the rising fuel costs by charging passengers extra for a second checked bag. Really, would you want to check a second bag when you know they are going to lose the first checked bag?

One thing you will want to consider this early in the planning stages is a camera. How is your camera doing that you have now? Don't wait a couple days prior to V-day to pull out the camera and check it over. Check it out now, especially if it is a film camera. If it's been in the back of the closet there are a few things that need to be done before taking it on your vacation. Remove the batteries and make sure they didn't leak into the battery chamber of the camera. If they did, the camera may still be salvageable. But a future blog will discuss how to perform cleaning, maintenance and storage of your camera. Most likely, buying a new camera, is your first choice at this point.

Now, if you are in the market for a new camera, where do you start? Well, the worst thing to do is have the salesperson tell you what you want. You know what you want; you just need a way to organize your thoughts. Here is where to start in that process...


First step should be: Get some paper and a pen. Write down what you liked with all the cameras you have owned or used. Spend a lot of thought with this. This list is for you to use in selecting your new camera.


Next you will start another list: Write down what you did not like with those cameras. If you are considering a digital and it is your first, here are a couple of things to consider:

Anti-shake, anti-vibration--This is a big deal. Even the pro, high end digitals are adding this feature. Lower priced cameras also have this feature. This is a must have feature for digital cameras today, especially if this will be your first.

Start up time. Biggest complaint with a digital camera is missing a picture because someone was waiting for the camera to "come on," "turn on," "warm up," whatever they may call it. By the time the camera is ready, the baby's first step is missed and all you can get is the 2nd, 3rd, 4th steps.

Type and size of battery the camera uses. It is best to purchase a camera that uses AA batteries. Those are available all over the world where there are stores. If you want the thin, "fit in your shirt pocket" camera, plan for the odd battery, specific for that camera and possibly just that model! And if you leave your charger at home... uh-oh.


Go to a store you are familiar with that sells cameras. DO NOT BUY a camera. The salesperson at a camera store will do everything in their power to make the sale at that moment, even lie if they have to. I know from experience about the "promises" list they begin to rattle off until they see you begin to soften up. A promise made to me on the first digital camera was not outrageous. When I was ready to step up to a more sophisticated camera, I went back to the camera store with the old camera I purchased from them. The salesperson said they would take the old camera as a trade in when I would be ready to move up. I dealt with the same saleperson and he looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted to trade the old one in. "We don't do trade-ins and never have."


Listen to the sales pitch, test out the camera and then go get a cup of coffee. DO NOT BUY. If you saw what you liked make note of the brand and model.


Then, check out the reviews of the camera you liked. You can go on line and search for the make and model, go to the camera manufacturer's website, and the best and most reliable review is from the consumer just like you who will tell it straight. Here, too, is where you can find out if the camera is a discontinued model or being discontinued. So if the saleperson says you are getting a great deal on a camera they want you to buy, do you consider a discontinued product a great deal?


In the process of checking reviews on line, you may have found a better price. You may save money not paying tax, but remember to consider the shipping and handling charges. Add up the camera price and shipping in comparison to purchasing the camera locally. Can you wait a day or two for the savings? I buy all my camera equipment through an online camera and video store which has been proven to be reliable and trustworthy. In the first year alone of switching to the online purchasing, I saved over $1,000 for gear and they even purchased my old camera and lenses! However, if you decide to purchase over the internet be aware there is something called a "gray market." Gray market equipment is meant to be sold outside the United States and here is what makes the price so attractive... no manufacturer's warranty comes with the purchase. A good article about the "gray market" alert is in the January 2008 issue of Popular Photography magazine. You may be able to read the article by going to the magazine's online site, http://www.popphoto.com/ and search for the editorial by John Owens, "Camera-Buyer Beware: How to tell a scam from a steal."


Buying a camera is a big discision today. Just like a new car, the minute you walk out the door with the camera, it's value drops quite a bit. Another thing, the digital market is still quite new and "finding itself" to please the customer. Digital cameras are obsolete in the matter of days of being released. Take for instance the line of Nikon's digital SLR cameras. They have jumped all over the place to get the consumer's attention... D100 to D70 to D50, D80, D200, and within a model there have been changes and releases and the same has been happening in their pro line of DSLRs. If you could follow the "point and shoot" camera's history, you would discover that market is a disaster.

Oh, and one more thing, if you can't find a model that has all the features you want, just wait a few days, it will be on the market...

A Palatable Pixel...

Periodically, a "Pixel Palate" will be posted as a little morsal for you to "chew on" and think about. Here is the first of many:



When you go on a vacation, you have spent much time preplanning and preparing. There has been research for the lowest priced airfare, hotels, places to see, events taking place and whatever else. You don't want to go fishing quite a distance from home, decide to stay overnight and discover there is "no room in the inn." That happened to my husband and I years ago when we lived in California. We decided to go fishing at an "interesting looking" lake on a map. We went fished and decided to stay overnight. When we started to search for a room, none were to be found... the innkeepers kept mumbling something about the Calaveras County Leaping Frog Contest (Mark Twain's short story on this event was one of his first writings to be published). To make a long story short, we ended upstairs above the bar in a room at the Black Bart Inn. We propped a chair against the door because there wasn't a lock. That was good because during the night someone tried to get in. Oh, and did I tell you, the sheets on the bed hadn't been changed?



Well back to the morsal... You are taking your camera and know what you want to take pictures of, right? If you are looking for the postcard view... buy the postcard! Yeh, we all want to top the postcard view... but... spend more film or memory card space capturing pictures of family, friends or other views that aren't on postcards. Don't try to duplicate what a postcard already has. You will spend valuable time on that mission and miss other great "memory" shots.



One more thing... you're on vacation... remember to remove the one-eyed silver box from in front of your face from time to time to see the "real time" views!