This year, due to the high cost of heating fuel, dad was using the fireplace to help heat the house.
I noticed there was another unusual smell in the house. It wasn’t really the smell of smoke; however, it smelled of burning sugar. I told mom about it plus she said it was an outdated house, plus there were several unusual smells in it.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, however dad continued to use the fireplace to heat the house, although he kept looking for the unusual smell. When I came into the apartment last week, I told them it smelled similar to 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 supplier and told them about the fireplace plus the smell of something dead. The heating plus air conditioning worker told dad it could be some odor bugs had gotten into the ductwork, plus they had died when the heating system was running. That would cause a horrible stench in the house. My dad told him my buddy and I hadn’t used the heating system because my buddy and I couldn’t afford to use it. He said he didn’t know, and before dad hung up, the heating plus air conditioning worker asked how he was heating the house. The heating plus air conditioning worker also 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 worker said my buddy and I could have had a bee’s nest in the chimney, it all made sense. First the smell of burnt sugar, plus then, care about something had died; it added up to there being honey bees in the chimney.