Worried About The Cold

So yeah, the cold is worrying me.  I wonder how the appliances in the house I use to combat the cold is going to hold up as it has begun getting real cold and will be like this through about Wednesday.  The noises I hear scare me.  For example, while the heating is working like clockwork, I hear some extra, like, whirring or buzzing that makes me think the furnace is about to conk out.  Also, I was just at the dining room table reconciling my expense list for December and, for some reason, I heard tapping against the wall.  Now this is pretty much kitty-corner (and a floor) from the furnace, so I have no idea why there would be a sound coming from the other corner of the house when the heat's on.  That makes me scared to think that somehow there's another thing breaking down in the house.  And that's not even getting into the creaking of the wood that comes when it gets really cold.  That hasn't happened -- yet.

I really won't know what to do if the heat goes out.  I always relied on Father making sure the house would hold up this time of year, but I think he just looks at the furnace for a minute, checks to make sure there's nothing leaking or noises he thinks is bad and says to himself, "Yeah, that's fine."  Of course, he doesn't have to worry about the house because he's not here.

Yeah, I'm spiralling into playing the blame game.  I'll just not worry until I have to ... I guess.