I broke out in hives when she caught me cooking waffles. She even gets upset if we leave the refrigerator door open for more that two seconds. The kids have no idea what she's talking about, but I know she's referring to an energy conservation TV commercial from 30 years ago where a refrigerator was filled with ping pong balls which were supposed to represent cold air, and when the door was opened, all the balls tumbled to the floor. When I look at our kitchen floor, I see linoleum. She sees ping pong balls.
Every effort helps, no matter how small.
So yesterday, I prepared a sign and posted it on the front door. I figured out it probably costs two cents of energy every time someone rings the doorbell. I know that's not much, but when you add up the number of times people visit us and project that over a period of an entire year, that sign is going to save us four cents. Irv Erdos is a free-lance columnist.