Beards can be painful

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We have an outdoor woodstove. It heats up water, which goes through a heat exchanger and thus heats the house. I’m a night owl, so I’m the one who checks on it a couple times during the night to make sure the fire’s still going. Anyway, last night I checked on it. There were still some chunks of wood that hadn’t fully burnt yet, and I was stoking it up. The flames were roaring and some sparks were flying, and then I felt an intense burning sensation on my cheek. A spark had landed in my beard. It didn’t burst into flame or anything, it was out before I could slap myself, but it was a shock. And for the next few minutes, I’d sniff and wonder, Is that burned hair I smell?