Things I've learned:

1. Taking down plaster is much like riding a bike. It's not rocket science, but you're likely to get hurt. The plaster walls in our kitchen are about 100 years younger than the original walls of the house - instead of wooden lath strips, the 1/2" of cement (otherwise known as the "scratch coat") is attached to metal lath, which is the sharpest substance known to man.

We've now taken out four walls - only sad 2X4s remain.

2. Asbestos rash gets worse the second day. We finally got a second particulate filter mask, so our lungs are relatively unscathed (this time - we've been poking around this carcinogenic house for years without protection, so we've already been exposed many times). The cancer associated with Asbestos is vanishingly rare (so sayeth the doctor), and would not appear for a good thirty years or so, by which time I expect that medical science will have cured cancer, or our society will have broken down so completely as to make medical care totally unavailable.



3. Smashing things is both exhilarating and exhausting. Actually, I knew this already, but this experience was much improved by the two nice tools that appeared at our house recently. They were carefully labled in Sharpie over duct tape, but have been so well loved that the name has worn off both of them. We haven't the faintest idea how to return them, so I guess they're ours. Wait, I hear squawking from the West...