Pics of Cap and Top of Chimney - IS THIS OK OR DO I NEED A CLEANING?

I ventured up on the roof today to take a peek at the chimney to see how I have been burning. Took a couple picture as I don't know what I am looking at. The first is looking at the band under the chimney cap and the underside of the cap.

The second is a closeup of the underside of the chimney cap.

The third and fourth show the top of the pipe.

The granular stuff shown looks like the stone off of shingles. It was all over the inside of the cap as well.

When I am restarting with some weak coals, I opened the ash pan door for a bit to help get the fire racing. I am suspecting that this is blowing ash into the chimney and this is what I am seeing.

Opening the ash door could easily overfire a stove if left open. The flames absolutely start racing when the door is opened. I stay by it and only do it for a couple minutes until the new wood is burning.

Note: My installation was done in July '06. So this is about 0.6 cords worth of wood (mainly pine from Warren). I'm not sure if I have been burning hot enough. Usually just doing one log at a time just to keep the fire going. Any more than that and the house would be 80 degrees.

Any comments??

Thanks

picture 3

pics 3 and 4

Looks like a little creosote to me. (See the brownish tint under the cap in pic #1?) How does
the rest of the chimney look? If this is all there is and it's only right by the cap, I don't think it's
enough to be concerned about yet. Caps are "creosote collectors" anyway. If the rest of the
chimney is dirty, sweep it.

When in doubt clean it out. JMO