Hey. Welcome to our hood

I am surrounded by new neighbors. While I have met all of them, they aren't as outgoing and neighborly as the last crew who I knew for more than twenty years. I have tried to put myself in their shoes, but since I at one time was in their shoes and still count all of those long gone neighbors as friends and family it isn't easy. They don't seem to want to engage. Oh, they talk when spoken to and sometimes we even stand and chat a bit, but if isn't the same neighborhood as it once was and I blame the newbies.

My kitchen window faces the street. My front door faces the street. My bedroom window faces the street. Pretty much every room that I frequent during the day has a window that faces the street. This means that I can see the three houses across the street from me 24/7. In the old days, before the newbies, I knew the comings and goings, routines, and normalcy of those three neighbors. I knew my two next door neighbors as well, but only because I knew them so well, or from walking the dog, or from sitting outside. If something was amiss with any of those neighbors and I noticed, I took action. They did the same with my property. We had a great system and we were all on board with it. I can't tell you how many times I have called my neighbors at midnight to remind them that their garages were open.

Recently, our neighborhood has experienced a rash of petty thefts. A gang of youngsters ranging in age from 13 to 24 have taken to stealing items out of open garage doors in daylight and breaking into cars in driveways at night. Due to these incidents, our homeowner's association had the sheriff's department send out their community liaison to speak at our monthly meeting. My old neighbor (old as in she and I are the only leftovers from the old hood) across the street and I attended. The new neighbors did not.

It was a great presentation. I learned a lot, and it validated the disagreement I have had in the past with my eldest regarding nosy neighbors. Vigilant neighbors are the number one crime deterrents in neighborhoods. The liaison told story after story about neighbors who work from home watching in silence as robbers pulled up trailers into driveways robbing them blind. She discussed how we as neighbors needed to watch out for one another, keeping eyes on houses during the day if we were home, calling in and reporting any suspicious activities. Since I watch way too much a lot of television I'm practically an investigator and I'm always on the job during the day.

One morning after the presentation as I stood at my kitchen window swallowing my daily dose of you-are-so-old medication, I noticed that my neighbor catty corner to me had an open garage. School was still in session then and the daughter's car was gone, as were the parents' cars. Yet the garage, which is always closed, was wide open, and inside the garage was his woodworking business complete with lumber and god knows how many dollars worth of tools. I commented on the situation to my husband who was eating breakfast.

Tom: "Hmmmm...."

I wondered aloud some more and then went into a dissertation about the presentation I had gone to, about how I had no phone numbers for these new neighbors as the directory wasn't new enough to include my newbies, about how annoying the whole thing was for an investigator such as myself, and about how he as an employee of the sheriff's office should be more concerned.

Tom: "Let me know how it all turns out. I'm going to work."

I left for my weekly breakfast meeting, and when I returned the gaping garage stared right at me as I passed by the house to enter my driveway. Seeing my old neighbor across the street watering plants, I hightailed it over to her to discuss the issue. Before I could open my mouth, she commented on the open garage. We stood and discussed all different sorts of possibilities of getting a hold of them, none of which would work as we didn't even know their last name. Finally, we decided to take matters into our own hands, and we hiked next door.

I had Elliot on a leash and he and I entered just a ways into the garage to have a look around. Immediately, I spied the door into the house, which they had remodeled and moved if memory served me, and next to the door was the garage opener. I pointed it out to my neighbor, Bonnie, and she offered to close it since I had the dog. It took her two tries because she forgot to jump over the laser the first time, but the second time was a charm and the door closed. We high fived, and immediately I felt better.

Bonnie: "We're like the secret neighborhood defenders."

Me: "Except that we're caught on camera from the neighbor across the street."

Bonnie: "I hope they didn't leave it open for a reason like a repair guy coming by or something."

Me: "You couldn't have thought of that before we closed the garage?"

Bonnie: "It just came to me."

Me: "Well, maybe we need to gather all of these newbies together for cocktails and tell them how it was in the old days and ask them whether they want to be a part of that or not."

Bonnie: "Let them know you and I are on the job."

Agreeing it was a great idea, we parted ways and went home. Several hours later I noticed a cement truck parked in front of the same neighbors' house. A man sat in the truck. He sat and sat. He was there when I left to run errands and pick up Madison. He was there when I returned. He was there every time I went back to peek out of the window, and suddenly I began to worry that the neighbors had left the garage open for this guy and now were having to leave work to meet this cement guy because he couldn't get in.

Madison: "Let me get this straight. You trespassed on to the neighbor's property and entered their premises without permission and closed their garage door?"

Me: "Allegedly."

Madison: "Except the neighbor across the street has outdoor cameras."

Me: "My fingerprints are on nothing."