I know I keep going on about how much steel is going into the structure of our house, but today we saw the coolest piece.   It has always been termed "the curvy piece" by the contractor (apparently that is a technical term) and it is the piece of steel that supports the deck outside the living room.  It is very cool.  So cool, it had to have an artistic shot.

Even though it is easier to see from another angle

I will have to get more shots of this because I don't think the magnitude of this piece is illustrated well enough here...

Beyond the wicked awesome curvy steel bit, we also have a few more steel frame supports to make sure we have enough structural strength to hold up our wall of windows.   Peter was glad to see these pieces go in because apparently he was up at the site the other day and found out he could rock the huge structural steel columns that frame the wall of windows.  He will no longer be able to do that.

The steel column to the left of the cross beam is the one Peter used to be able to rock.... I think he has been foiled...

The curvy steel is not the only super cool thing that has happened today.  The roof of the garage has been framed in as well.  The roof of the garage is going to be curved (not quite like the steel piece) and we saw how the front end of the garage was framed, but neither Peter nor I could figure out how the rest of the garage was going to be framed up.  Well, now we know.  There are three arches that run across the width of the garage; one at the front, one at the back, and one where the door to the house is.  To form the rest of the garage roof, they have installed floor trusses above these arches.  Now the front of the garage looks like this...

and the roof of the garage from the interior looks like this...

From another angle, you can see how the floor trusses are laid across the two arches toward the back of the garage.

And just another funky angle because I think it is cool.  This is looking up from the main floor of the house.  The opening at the bottom left of the image is the garage door.

Okay, so the curvy steel is awesome, and the framing of the garage is amazing, but that is not all.  Today, for the first time, I got to walk on the second floor of our house!

Here is a view of the second floor when I am standing in the master closet.  In the foreground is the master bathroom (on the left).  The master bedroom door will be where the 4X4 board is sitting in the right side foreground of the image.  Beyond that is the hallway/catwalk which leads over to the stairway landing and then to the study.  The area in the midground of the image on the right will have no floor, it will be open to the living room below.

I walked across the catwalk (cool) and into the study.  Looking back the other way across the house, John (who is bent over) is standing in the master bathroom, the guy behind him is in the master closet, and the other two guys are standing in the master bedroom.  The gap between where John is and the floor of the study will be the front entry way.    (Note the garage roof on the right...)

Another shot from the study looking across the house.  Again, the two guys are standing in the master bedroom.  The small area to the left of the black steel columns will be a deck off the back of the master bedroom.  On either side of the catwalk, there is an opening to the floor below.  Here on the right of the catwalk there will be an opening that looks down to the front entryway and on the left is the opening that looks down into the living room.

Just one more shot from another corner of the study looking across the catwalk to the master suite.

Back downstairs, with the plywood on the floor upstairs, the rooms are starting to feel like they are true rooms.  The kitchen area now has a floor, walls (partially) and a ceiling

as does the guest bed and bath rooms

The contractor has also built an altar to our personal bible, our house plans.  They now have a podium, built especially for them, which stands just in front of the future fish tank.

Whew, a lot has happened in the last few days and we are not even through the week yet!