Skyway Map and Move-in Musings

We have a comment! Which means we have at least one very helpful reader. Here's a link to a better skyway map(links to a pdf folks!). Thanks Condo Guru.

The poll is closed and perhaps we have two readers as someone wanted to know if living in downtown St. Paul is safe. It has nothing to do with St. Paul, but I always answer that question with "it depends." We lived in a quiet neighborhood in Tampa, where kids walk to school and play in the parks without constant adult hovering, but we also had two drug-related murders two blocks and half a block from our house. You can't control who comes down your public streets in the middle of the night and the neighborhood backed to woods and water-easy hiding places for people with ill intent (who weren't afraid of snakes and alligators). Which brings up other dangers-poisonous snakes, alligators, and rabid animals, all live in some surprisingly crowded habitats in Florida. It's almost to the point where a small dog being consumed by a large reptile is not news. Enough about Florida.

I feel very safe in downtown St. Paul. We checked out the crime stats, spent some time in Lowertown at various times of the day and night, and put some thought into security when choosing a building. However, bottom line is that as urban environments go St. Paul feels more small town wave at your neighbor with the dog than scary post-modern crime infested chaos. Perhaps in another post I'll talk about how that small town vibe can be the equivalent of a big yawn, but we won't know anything about that until we're done with the work in the loft.

As promised, a look at the bamboo floor- The cinder block area is going to house a Murphy Bed and cabinet for linens and a little clothes storage. Our version of a guest room for the 'rents who will undoubtedly want to stay overnight when they fly in for the annual pilgrimage to the old home place up north. I'll post pictures of that when it is installed, some time at the end of September if all goes as planned.

Here's another view of the floor. We had planned to go with stained concrete, but the loft is long and narrow with the balcony doors as the only natural light source. After spending some time in it we decided to go light, light, light, with all the floors. -