Basement update

Mr. Hunter and I realized the other day that we (by we I mean us together in spirit as truly - I have been upstairs sewing) have been renovating the house for almost 2 1/2 years and have yet to leave the basement. In fact, there isn't even a finished room down there. Hopefully that changes this weekend as Mr. Hunter finally decided on a bathroom vanity and even purchased! 
Here is what the other half of the basement looks like at the moment - there used to be a fireplace here!

 Guess what we found in this fireplace? We found several windows - the previous owner actually vented the fireplace out an old window and then built a brick chimney around it outside - none of the windows are sealed in which is why we used to get frost around the insert! We also found this lovely thing shown in the photo below:

 Its a hornets nest! Yikes! Thank the heavens we opened this up in winter and not summer. I noticed there are always hornets going into the chimney - but assumed they were in the chimney - not out house!
Scary huh?

Cheers,
Carolyn