We took the whole wall down

Yes we did!Leah and I worked like bandits today to get this wall down.
After much deliberation and serious evaluation of my personal limitations, I asked Jeff what he would charge to put the beam into this wall. It's quite reasonable, considering the nightmare it would be if I put the thing in, and so he came this morning to tell us what to take down (all of it) and we did. It's ready for him and Bo to frame the wall in on Monday. At first I was a bit concerned that I might like the entire wall gone, but really, I don't. The room is too big. It needs that little break of a wall between what used to be the kitchen and the living room. It will be very nice to have books up there - out of the way, but there. Books hanging in every available space is a comfort zone for me. What a surprise, eh?
Leah and I took so much of the wall down last weekend, it was quite shocking for me how much more stuff there was to actually take down. Let's just say tons, okay? We worked our tushies off from about 10am, to about 3:30 when it was time to eat! (Breakfast burritos, hmmm)
Look at how much debris the second round left us with!
Leah had to leave at 4pm, so she helped me clean most of the stuff out, and then after dropping her off at home, I came back and cleaned for another three hours. How can so much dust magically appear. It's just amazing. I used the shop vac and got quite a bit up, and then thought, well I'll just try my super-dooper vacuum on the rest of it. Wow. It really does the job. But it's still dusty in the most unlikely places. Someday it will all be cleaned up. Whether from use, or Jacques rubbing himself on stuff. He is looking a sort of dusty grey lately, as compared with his usual sleek black self.
Here he is checking out the hallow that allows the heating vent to exist. Now this is a good thing, but I do have to stick some kind of insulation in there - I think. Also, the bigger problem is that when I look up this shaft I can see daylight, inside my house. The eves are not completely closed! I've got to get someone out here to fix that asap. No wonder the squirrels have decided to live with me. Easy access!
My sweet baby is not sure what to think of all this. It was 22° today for the high, a bit too cold for him to be outside for long. He came back in relatively quickly. But he wasn't thrilled to be in a house with so much noise and debris flying everywhere. Poor little guy, so much craziness in his castle.
The next thing to tackle will be the floor. But first - I've got to finish my syllabus for my advanced students. And right now I need to take a very hot bath and go to bed! I'm freezing and I have a workshop tomorrow morning. Should be fun!