that was expensive

Thursday morning I woke at 4 a.m. to the smell of something burning.  I laid there in bed, still, and tried to figure out from where the smell came.  I didn’t hear any crackling that’d give away our house being on fire, the dog wasn’t barking, so I decided it probably wasn’t something in our house emitting the smell.

That was my logic at 4 in the morning: the dog isn’t barking so everything must be fine.  Because isn’t that what dogs are for?  To warn you when you’re in danger?

I quickly realized this probably wasn’t the best way to make sure my family was safe so I got up, put my nose in the air and smelled around my room.  Then I peeked out my curtains to see if a neighbor’s house was on fire, then checked Baby Chickadee’s room, then G and Little Missy’s room.  No fire in their rooms, no neighbor’s house on fire.  With nose still in the air I walked down the stairs to where the dog still didn’t bark, then down to the basement.  The smell got stronger as I got closer to the heater.  That old thing was the culprit.

I went back up the two flights of stairs to my bedroom and cannot remember if I turned down the heat.  I didn’t turn it off because it was on when I woke for the day a few hours later, but I can’t remember if I turned it down.  I would have, right?  I would not have left that thing working on full blast when it was smelling up the house.  I hope not, anyway.

When I got back to bed I told Hubby why I was up wandering the house, he muttered “Oh,” and we both went back to sleep.  But I didn’t go back to sleep before praying that God protect us and let us know if a fire did start in the house.

After we dropped off G at school I called McCune Heating and Cooling.  The nice man came over a little after lunch, ran some tests, and $108 later determined our air filter was so dirty that it made the heat exchange emit a burning smell.

Hubby and I ALWAYS forget to change that stinkin’ air filter.  But after $108 we probably won’t forget again.