Last night around 2:30 A.M. I awoke to the dulcet sounds of at least one smoke detector going off. Even as groggy as I was, the smell in the air was thick enough that I paused to place my hand on the door to determine if it was hot before opening it, then . . . nothing. The door was cool, the alarm(s) silenced themselves, and I was the only one awake in the house. If not for the rapidly dissipating scent lingering in the air, I might have wondered what had just happened.
The scent was scorched dust though.
Last night there had been what passes for a “cold snap” around here, and I’d turned the heater on before going to bed. Evidently, around 2:30 is when the (rarely ever used) heater kicked in, and I imagine you can figure out the rest yourself.
Nice to know everything works around here, at least.