random thoughts – Day 1,406 – (Monday) –burnt dust and thick ice

Over the past couple days, I kept smelling something odd in the house. It was slightly electrical, but not really, and the best description I could come up with was burnt dust. It was most noticeable in the living room, but that might be because that is where I spend time after work, sitting quietly, doing not much, and there is bandwidth available to notice a weird smell. 

Gray, cracked ice, because dusty
air filters are gross to photograph.

A couple times, I walked around the house sniffing the air like a dog in search of a source. I went downstairs and sniffed the basement. I even ventured outside to unplug the heating system that runs through the gutters, imagining that I was smelling a slow and gradual burn of the roof. 

When the furnace made an unusual noise that resembled the washing machine at the end of the spin cycle, it finally occurred to me to check the furnace air filter. And there it was – all gray and gross and fully loaded with dust. Yuck. I couldn’t remember the last time I changed it. The filthy thing was tied up in a bag and deposited into the trash bin. 

The front steps want to kill me.

In the couple hours since, the furnace has seemed quieter and the air no longer had the weird scent. It was an almost immediate improvement. Or maybe I imagined it all in the thrill of discovery and victory over a routine household task. 

Next up in the homeowner’s mystery series, the case of the leaking gutter. Why does the gutter over the steps and front door keep leaking and coating the steps in thick, impenetrable, dangerous ice?