Those of us who collect and restore old radios lament the current state of Radio Shack as a battery and cell phone store with few parts.

Thinking about this, I'd buy a plug in variety with battery backup.  

The advantage is that although they have a battery for backup, they normally operate without the battery.

I go crazy over how the front yard looks more than the inside unless it is really bad inside.For me the more difficult thing to deal with is unauthorized pets or people, smoking indoors, smoke detector batteries always dead, and difficulty contacting them (cell phone disconnected, become non-communicative when under stress, disappear in the night).Cheers!

Replace the batteries in your smoke detectors.?

Check all the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they are in working order and that the batteries haven't been removed. 

, solar panels w/ a couple batteries, water tank, etc..

After spending thousands of dollars trenching, adding drains, upgrading to three pumps with battery backups), I was fine for a year then flooded again ...

It also let me know when workers or potential tenants came and went.The only component that needs an outlet is the base station, the rest are battery operated. 

I don't know if the painters took them off or something)-replaced master shower head, toilet seats, sink, and rebuilt toilet; re-caulked shower (I used my own rainfall type shower head from day one. the other stuff I just don't know if that's my fault or not)-replaced batteries in smoke and CO alarms-replaced furnace filter-replaced back bedroom door knob ( it didn't match the others, and was like that the day I moved in)Is it not normal to give an itemized list of prices for these various charges?