We come from the land of the ice and snow

A couple of weeks ago, just before we went to bed, the upstairs smoke alarms started going off and smoke started coming out of the vents. We turned off the upstairs heater (we have two, one for downstairs and one for upstairs) and did not find any fire. Probably the motor or something burned out in the furnace.

We slept downstairs for a few days because upstairs was smoky. We had to wash all the curtains and bedding.

We had been planning on replacing the furnaces for months (they're 30+ years old) and even had a couple of quotes. Someone came last Monday and replaced the downstairs one, but ran into some problems with the upstairs one. The newer furnaces need more exhaust pipes and the hole in the roof wasn't big enough. So we have to get some roofing work done as well. If we're lucky we'll have it done this week.

We only went one day with no heat, and man was I cold. I know, we live in California and all, but sleeping in a bedroom that is in the 50s is no fun. (We have some portable heaters but we turn them off at night.)

Thankfully we had (downstairs) heat again before hosting my family for Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law Stuart deep-fried the turkey. I am told it was delicious.