"Yes Maam. You should leave the house right now."

So, I have had the gas logs for 9 days now. We have been smelling a slight gas odor since the first usage...every day...and it lingers as long as the logs are lit. I mentioned this to a co-worker and she said the logs need to "burn in" for a few days.

Well, yesterday I was working from home and I let the logs burn to achieve that "burn in." After 3 hours on conference calls I went downstairs to be met with the gas odor and it had lingered up the stairwell too.

Sooooo, I call the gas company to see if this is normal. They connect me to the Emergency Gas Leak department. This VERY calm woman said that they never take a potential gas leak for granted so my case will be classified as an emergency. I am still calm at this point....then she proceeds to tell me that she needs to read their standard safety precautions to me....

1. Do not light a match.
2. Do not turn on a light switch.
3. Leave the domicile.

Uhm....can you back up a moment. Did you say leave the domicile. "Yes Maam" was her reply. "You need to leave the house right now. Immediately." All said in this very calm, "pass the salt" voice.

I sat outside in my car in the driveway waiting for the gas company to arrive. They take potential leaks seriously. He arrived in 12 minutes. He entered the house armed with a spray bottle filled with soap. If you remember from high school chem gas is a kinetic gas and moves (Nathan told me that as I totally did NOT remember!) therefore the soap would bubble if there was a leak. Thankfully NO leak. BUT it may take a couple of months for the logs to "burn in."

Oh well. They are beautiful when lit and keeping us warm. We can deal with the gas odor for a bit. Thankfully it is not Sophie or Gracie blessing us with their odors! ; )