...not to second-guess myself, even when it comes to very trivial things. At 6:00 this morning, I jolted awake because I thought I heard a bell. I listened intently and didn't hear anything else, so I thought I had imagined it or dreamed it. I went back to sleep and woke up an hour later to scared cats that were hiding and a horrible smell pervading the house. The thermostat on the wall downstairs seemed to be making a bizarre buzzing noise. Rick and I assumed it was our heating system and called the service who works on it. Rick went to a doctor appointment and work while I waited for the repair man to arrive and called in late to hospice. After a while of inhaling the awful fumes, a man came to help me. He went right to the wall with the thermostat and said, "You think the buzzing is coming from here? I don't." I looked puzzled and he pointed to a box a couple of feet above the thermostat, on the same wall. The doorbell transformer box.
And yes, the buzzing was indeed coming from the doorbell box. After he checked every aspect of our heating system to find everything working perfectly, I took the box cover off the transformer for the doorbell that is fastened to the wall. It was super hot and yes, the smell came from it. THAT was what I had heard at 6:00am. The doorbell shorted out and RANG. I just called myself crazy, but maybe if I had looked for the source FIRST, I would have avoided bothering the heating people.
Long story short, the wires from the doorbell unit extend down into the wall, which was making me nervous about fire, but with the help of my iPhone to take a photo of the transformer box and send it to my dad, he talked me through removing the right wire to stop the electrical current and therefore the buzzing and the burning smell. It was like dismantling a bomb! Thanks, Dad! All is well at the Bair household again.
Today I am thankful for...
...healthy cats, a safe home, and my dad. Why? Because of all of the above!
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