For some reason this summer has me more excited than most in the past have. I don’t know if it’s the planned trip back to Hatteras, NC or my new schedule at work that will allow me more time with my kids during the week, or just a general hope that more good things are to come and great accomplishments too.

One of the things I am excited to finally finish this year is the exterior of my home. We bought out house two years ago, a foreclosed home on Middlebury Dr., through the help of my family. We’ve managed to do a majority of the work to the house ourselves (still lots more to do) and it has really come a long way. One area of need I’ve felt bad about neglecting so far is the outside. Landscaping, paint, lawn maintenance – it’s all been very tough as we’ve focused mostly on the living areas.

Well, this is the year I know it’s going to get done (or at least headed in a better direction). I got some flowers planted around the front of the house on Mother’s Day for Mrs. Keith, this weekend we’re making another attempt at filling in the areas where the pine trees once stood with some top soil and grass seed, and hopefully I can get some week killer down on the yard to start getting rid of some weeds and getting some grass in their place!

I want a home I can be proud of and a home that maybe some day my neighbors might say, ‘I hope my yard looks that nice some day.’ Much like I do around the neighborhood now.

So tell me, is your yard a struggle, what kind of work have you done to get it there, is there a house in the township that you’re jealous of how beautiful it is, do you have that house? Let’s discuss.

• Takes care of their property and its surroundings
• Looks out after their property and others  (for suspicious activity)
• Says “hi” to their neighbor and waves hi and/or bye when they see their neighbor passing.
• Is respectful to neighbors concerns

Of course, we all make mistakes … especially us younger folks that are just getting acclimated to having their own home. Especially on that last part – being respectful of our neighbors concerns. My wife and I are particularly young and we like to have people over for bonfires periodically throughout the summer and we have elderly neighbors. We tend to try and keep things quiet but admittedly don’t always do the best of jobs. I always apologize the next day or day after should it have gotten, in my opinion, too loud. I guess that too is part of being a good neighbor. Of course it is always our goal to not allow the party to get out of hand and a majority of the time this is the case as far as we know.

But while I try to acclimate myself to my surroundings shouldn’t others try to acclimate themselves to their new neighbors? I am polite, generous with my time to help my neighbors, stop by to talk, keep my yard looking nice, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth.  It is not as if we throw wild and crazy parties where people roam the streets damaging property or cause a raucous.

So shouldn’t I get the benefit of the doubt? I’d like to think as a neighbor I would be willing to give it (the benefit of the doubt) a time or two.

(btw … I use the word ‘I’ as a proverbial/universal ‘I’ as in all of us as neighbors)

In my opinion using police as an intervention should truly be a last ditch effort to calm a noisy neighbor. Especially so in Bedford Township where I feel like our protection isn’t adequate. A simple and proper neighborly thing to do might be to come outside and ask the noisy neighbor to quiet down or stop whatever they’re doing that is so noisy. I bet 9 out of 10 times this will accomplish the end means. If this doesn’t work .. then consider calling the police. I bet, again 9 out of 10 times, your neighbor doesn’t even recognize that they’re being too loud (for whatever reason).

Of course, there may be extenuating circumstances where one may not feel comfortable in approaching their neighbor and if you suspect that there is ANY illegal activities going on then it is certainly most prudent to contact the authorities.

I suppose in the grand scheme of things the moral of this blog is this .. don’t resent they neighbor and don’t forget that you may have been in the same shoes as that neighbor once. My guess is most of us appreciate our neighbors and would like to be appreciated by our neighbors and sometimes, just like friendships, neighbors are going to do things that frustrate us or upset us. However, we still have to live nearby these people and finding the most peaceful and amicable solution between each other, in my opinion, is the best way to intervene. Keeping a coll head about ones self is also always good.

So let’s keep making this community a great place to live and all work on being the best neighbors we can be.