Burning down the house

Later that day...
I'm in the shower getting ready for Jim and Carolyn's party, looking forward to hanging out with all the Godiva folks and the promised dancing, wondering if I'll be able to stay awake past 9pm, when the lights flicker and go out for a few seconds. The bathroom then almost instantly fills up with smoke and the smell of burning tires. My first thought was that Shannon was trying to cook something again, but she came upstairs "Friend? Something is on fire. I dont know where."
So the smoke was not from her attempting the "wax paper covered flame broiled salmon".
Our friend Mandy arrived just then, she was going to ride with us to the party. "Come on in, and make yourself at home. You'll have to excuse us for a moment because it seems the house is on fire."
Apparently it started when the furnace kicked on so I shut it off, and we went to investigate in, around and under the house. There was no sign any flames, and the smoke seemed to be clearing.
So Shannon put on the Talking Heads "Burning down the house", and as I was pondering calling the fire department, Mandy and her proceeded to dance on my kitchen table. I was grateful for their concern about my house.
I finally decided not to call the fire dept, because if they inspected my electrical system they might not approve of my "do-it-yourself" 220V wiring of my hot tub heat pump. Since I was unsure as the cause of the smoke, we decided not to go to the party, in case the smoke came back again.
Instead we watched the "Spirit Of the Marathon" movie and tried to talk Mandy into running the Umstead Marathon on Saturday. It would be her first Marathon, and though she is signed up, she hasn't really been training for it. "Come on. It will be fun! You don't need any training!". I thought for sure she would be motivated after seeing the movie, but somehow the footage of people collapsing into a heap before the finish line didn't inspire her.
On Sunday it got very cold in the house from the lack of heat, so we packed up the 4 dogs and headed to Shannon's house, where we discovered that her heat pump was also broken. We decided to make the best of it until we found that the Internet access was also not working, which made her house uninhabitable.
So we retreated back to my place and built a fire in the fire place and got out some space heaters, and watched "Swingers" as the snow started falling.

Dooright and Rotten huddle by the fire