Let me introduce you to my two little friends

The Wonder Twins. On the left is the Generac generator. On the right, the (wrapped for winter) a/c unit.

See those awesome pieces of machinery? The one on the right is the a/c, which as far as I'm concerned is the most important invention of the 20th century. The one on the left is the generator Thomas and I bought this past winter, in response to frequent power outages over the past few years.

Buying the generator, having the gas lines attached to it, and having the concrete pad laid for it and the unit installed cost us about $5000 total. SO WORTH IT.

We didn't need it at all through the cold weather, but we lost power for seven days after the big storm at the end of June. Seven days. And during that seven days we managed just fine. The a/c did not work, the unit isn't powerful enough to run that along with everything else. What it does run is:
the fridge
lights
ceiling fans
washer and dryer
the internet router and tv

With all that, we were comfortable, able to eat, sleep, and hang around the house just fine. We had clean clothes and cold food/beverages. I got together with a friend last night who told us that they were out of power for only four days and they lost $1000 worth of food from their fridge and freezer. The Generac helped us avoid those kind of losses!