Cleaned stove pipe for the first time

With help from the many posts, I decided to clean my 15ft. stack myself with a new brush I got for Christmas. I burned a little towards the end of last season and since beginning of November this season. Just want to run some pics, explain what I did, and see if anyone recommends anything different or something I missed.

1. I had couldn't get the chimney cap off when on the roof so I took the cap with 3ft. section off and cleaned and removed cap on the ground.
2. Do you need the wire inside the cap? Was pretty gunky and was thinking about cutting off but I thought I ask first.
3. I ran the brush up and down the stack 4 times. It didn't seem like a whole lot of creosote?
4. I used a wire brush to clean the horizontal run from "T" to stove. Cleaned with shop vac.
5. I didn't disconnect stove and move but I did vacuum out the stove.
6. My biggest question is do I need to do anything as far as cleaning goes for air tubes on top of the stove?

Just got done splitting with my new maul and fiskars (what an amazing axe!!). Makes me wonder how much time and energy I wasted with the other cheap axe!!

My problem with the temps are this. The stove top has an air gap between the top and baffle. I have concluded that the stove top temps are meaningless. I have taken the top off and read about 500-550 on top of the baffle. I pretty much gauge temps by the flue collar (single wall). When the thermometer gets to the red (475), I damper down because it says it is unsafe. I try to keep the flue collar around 450 and when at this temp it heats the house to 70 and keeps us comfortable. Are my temps not as high as I read from everyone because it is a smaller stove and can't hold the same amount of fuel as others? Or is my wood not seasoned as well as it should be? The wood I am using is oak and ash...not seasoned as well as it could be, but I have no other choice. I am still relatively new to burning and just always caution on safety. Everything is to code but it blows my mind how the chimney pipe, which gets so hot I can't touch, can run throught the thimble with wood inches away and everything is good? Maybe I should stop being such a wuss and run it hotter to see what happens???

The creosote in the pic was after about 2.5 cords of wood from a month last year and the two this year.

Where would you put the thermometer for best readings? Flue collar? Chimney pipe running through the thimble? stove top is useless for me. Also, I can't do a probe thermometer since it is so close the the wall. Need your thoughts, guys.

Thanks as always!

Hareball, Exactly what I was thinking. When I was about 10, there was a squirrel in out fireplace, and my dad made a fire before we realized it was in there (don't ask me how) Didn't end up to good for the squirrel.