We only lost power for a few minutes in The Big Ol’ Derecho of ’12, but some of our neighbors didn’t get theirs back for days. Coming on the heels of Hurricane Irene in ’11 and Snowmageddon in the winter of ’09, I’m starting to accept a world where multi-day power outages look likely even though I live in a metro area.

And so, I finally caved in and bought an emergency generator. I bought a Champion 46515, a very common and inexpensive model that will power the fridge and a few other things in case the power goes away. It needed a break-in and oil change after five hours (after that, it’s 100 hours between oil changes), so I fired it up Sunday, plugged an electric smoker into it and cooked some ribs:

I have other friends who have completely given up and installed whole-house generators, but this should do the job for our tiny house at a price that won’t break us. And if I catch a gig at a location that doesn’t have power, this will solve the problem. But the fact that I really think this is necessary, in an area filled with millions of people, is a pretty sad commentary.

Previously: Sixteen trips to Vegas | Hokum home