Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm going to “stick to what I've chosen” for this one, and perhaps consider different things for the next one. (As we all do.)

But, having said that, I do think that what I'm seeing looks pretty good... that it ought to do the job well once I understand it.

I did use the Schema::Loader to build the basic schema (based on an existing database), and I think it did a very good job at its assigned task. So, I'm not worried that I've got any “disconnects” on that score. But I've surely got a wild race-horse on my hands here, and it's very difficult to ride.