Patty Perkinson wakes up around 5 a.m. in the pitch black of her Rancho Palos Verdes home. She grabs the large flashlight on her nightstand before she carefully makes her way out to the backyard — ...

The fuel has became a saving grace, and constant concern, for the 61-year-old high school teacher. But Perkinson is doing her best to adjust to her new, cobbled-together way of life, ever since she ...