This year, due to the high cost of heating fuel, dad was busy using the fireplace to help heat the house.
I had noticed there was an unusual odor in the house.
It wasn’t definitely the odor of smoke, however of burning sugar. I told mom about it plus she said it was an outdated house, plus there were many unusual odors in it. I thought mom had once again burnt something while cooking, however I was wrong. There were no burnt food remnants in the house, but dad continued to use the fireplace to heat the house, even though he kept looking for the unusual odor. When I came into the house last week, I told them it smelled like they enjoyed something that had died in the house. He looked for signs of dead mice, or other critters, however there was nothing. He finally called the heating plus air conditioning company and told them about the fireplace plus the odor of something dead. The heating plus air conditioning specialist told dad it could be some odor bugs had gotten into the ductwork, plus they had died when the oil furnace was running. That would cause a horrible stench in the house. My dad told him my buddy and I hadn’t used the oil furnace because my buddy and I couldn’t afford to use it. He said he didn’t know. Before dad hung up, the heating plus air conditioning specialist asked how he was heating the house. The heating plus air conditioning specialist asked if dad had the chimney cleaned before my buddy and I started the fireplace. He said he hadn’t, however it had just been cleaned this summer. When the heating plus air conditioning specialist said my buddy and I could have had a bee’s nest in the chimney, it all made sense. First the odor of burnt sugar, plus then, enjoying something had died; added up to there being honey bees in the chimney.