Remember those massive beams I was trying to guess the use for? Well, my guess was correct. They are indeed holding up the house. (Okay, so that was a no-brainer.)

Actually, that's not quite true. Those beams from the previous photos are apparently just little spindly things. Their purpose is to hold up THESE Honking Big Beams.

Here's Mike again, standing in our master bedroom--sort of. Once again you can get an idea of how utterly HOOGE these supports are. The one he's standing on and all the others in this room will be an exposed part of our kitchen ceiling structure.

He kidded one of the other guys that I wasn't spouting words of wonder and praise like I usually do. (The radio was up really loud though. He must not have been able to hear me when I was standing downstairs gushing like a lovesick teenager.)

I told him he should just be pleased that I've become so quickly accustomed to expecting miracles from him.