Furnace troubles

Well yesterday I smelled gas every time the furnace fired up. This, understandably was worrisome. So early this morning I turned off the heater so it could cool off so I could fuss with it. To make up for the lack of heat I dragged out two heater fans, turned them on and tripped the fuse. So maybe just one heater fan.
I cleaned the furnace. Got my hands really messy. Put everything back and turned it back on. No more gas smell. Instead it was replaced by the odd aroma of burning plastic. An improvement in my mind. The smell went on for a few minutes when I decided to check the furnace out again. Hey, were those wires fused together before? Maybe that was the burning smell? Two wires fused and one very crispy.
So to the hardware store to pick up some electrical tape and maybe those twisty together the wire thingies. On the way there I ran into Lem the neighborhood handiman. He said he could fix it and will be over around 2. Lem means well. If he isn’t here by 3 I’m going to try to fix the wires. Anyway he told me to pick up a thermocoupler. It’s cold so I walked over to the closest hardware store, the one at 6th and FL, Best Price Hardware. It is sort of like a small RI Ave Home Depot (sans lumber) where they have hardware stuff but not necessarily the exact thing you need. I figured I should take my chances. Nope. So I then went to Logan Hardware. They had it.
Just in case I did secure an appointment for a guy to come out and look at it later on this week. Hopefully if Lem comes, or if the wire fixing thing does the trick and does not kill me, I can cancel it.