Surviving an ice storm for 8 days without electricity solidified my resolve to become more self-sufficient. We lived in a rural/suburban area during the ice storm of January 1998. Trees crashing down all night long and into the next few days, with millions of ice crystals tinkling and skittering across the ice-coated snow. The old tree with the kid's swing, on the ground. Trees, heavy with two inches of ice, hanging on wires. My wife and I, two little kids cooked sloppy joes on the wood stove, burned wood to keep warm and eventually bought a gasoline generator. I have fond memories of pouring gasoline into the generator at midnight in a gale wind, gasoline spraying over the snow, using my body to block the wind. Going to our elementary school for the best shepherd's pie, courtesy of the American Red Cross, stopping in to the family-owned town drug store to buy candles and kerosene for our lanterns. Realizing that my worst "bad hair day" would never come close to my new 'Godzilla' look after going 3 days without a shower! Finally showering at work and praising the Lord for hot water! On a quiet night hearing the rumble of neighbor's generators each spewing out exhaust into the night. We had a lot of time to think about the consequences of living on the grid and being so dependent on it.

It was friends and acquaintances, working together, who helped me hook up the generator without getting electrocuted, or filling my house with carbon monoxide, or burning it down. It was friends and relatives who spent a day clearing brush and taking down dead trees with our chain saws. What new understandings did I come to after being without power for eight days?

First I realized the luxury of having so much power at my fingertips, 24 hours a day, 7 days a weeks, for a hundred dollars a month or so. Second, I realized that I didn't like being without power and dependent on a utility service crew (who was working around the clock in very dangerous conditions), but that my friends and family were the ones who supported each other in this time of disaster. I yearned to be independent from the chains of the grid, from other people determining my fate. On the days the sun shined, I rejoiced that my house had big windows on the south and west and we could feel and react to the sun's power.

Most of all I wanted to be self-sufficient, not dependent. What if I could use the sun to charge my devices? What if I had a radio that would work without worrying about the batteries dying? What if I could communicate with the outside world even if my wireless phone was dead?

Now, ten years after the ice storm of 1998, we have the technology to take charge of our lives in ways that we didn't before. We have small solar chargers that will charge up a cell phone. PDA, laptop, or even our cars! We have small, light radios that will run on the sun, or charge up with a hand crank, with even a voice-link two-way radio! Solar chargers and crank radios are made for every day life for people who want to take steps to move off the grid. They also are made for unexpected disasters such as ice storms, blizzards, hurricanes and other unexpected and expected weather that will eventually come our way. My goal is to take one small step toward energy independence. OakleighVermont.com sells the very best available chargers and radios at the lowest prices. We also give 5% of our profits to people who need it much more than we do. Think of your purchase as a vote for self-sufficiency and social justice. Here is your opportunity; just click on the buy link at the top of the page to buy our products.