>The only reasonable option I've come up with is a 555 timer giving
>me a 1Hz pulse to count off of.  The big downfall here is the power
>consumption.  Not only will this be running off of 4 AA batteries,
>these periodic events will be occurring 24 hours a day.

Extremely low power with long-term accuracy. Only a little
more expensive than a 555, and you get a clock mech to
play around with after the surgery

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/joecolquitt/lowpower.html

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