said “hi” to our neighbor across the street. She tried to converse but her dogs were overly vocal so we mutually agreed we’d talk later.

I did however rake the leaves today, so maybe keeping my yard nice is part of being a good neighbor. I subscribe to the “Broken Windows” theory of crime….that is the more unkempt your yard/neighborhood, the more it invites crime.

This hit home today, as I was reading my newspaper and saw that my previous residence, which had never known crime in or around the home, had at least two episodes in the last 2 weeks of car theft and vandalism, directly involving my former tiny street of about 10 homes. Maybe I timed the move right??