1. Welcome a new neighbor with a plate of home-baked cookies and information on how they can get around in their new location; where the grocery store, nearby restaurants and banks are, etc.  It’s hard, especially if you are shy, to reach out to a stranger, but the rewards are great.

2. If you plan to throw a party featuring music and a crowd, be considerate and inform the nearby residents. That way, they can plan accordingly. They will appreciate the warning. Wouldn’t you? Note: Turn the music down after midnight.

3. See what you can do to assist your senior neighbors who may need a hand with getting their garbage out to the curb or groceries carried in from the car. Knowing that they can call on you during an emergency situation will be a great relief to them. Helping another feels good in and of itself.

4. Frequent the businesses in and around your neighborhood. It pays to make our money work for us in building these businesses and improving our neighborhoods.

5. When voting time comes around, study the issues, some of which will directly affect where you live. And vote.

Make time to take an active interest in your community. Think of it as your extended family. Loving your neighbors is like loving yourself. Try it. It works.

Patty Mooney has been writing since the age of 16. Her favorite topics include women’s issues, homelessness, homeless veterans, the arts, cinema, biographies, nature and video production. Her work has appeared in many publications around the world, including the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Reader, Create Magazine, Post Magazine, Women’s Sports & Fitness, Yoga Journal and others. You can read her blog, “A Diary Left Open” at http://www.sandiegovideoproduction.blogspot.com Her business site is http://www.crystalpyramid.com

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A couple of years ago we might have missed a moment like this. Like many others, we would probably have been watching TV, even though it was a gorgeous day outside.

WHERE HAVE THE “GOOD OLD DAYS” GONE?

It’s funny how the critics lament the passing of the “good old days”. They wonder what happened to communities, neighborhoods, civic virtue, or family values. Pundits rant at the right and the left, blaming each or the other.

Yet, the biggest change over the last two generations has been the advent of television. In two generations TV has grown to suck up over four hours of peoples’ time per day. No other social change comes close to this shift. It eats up about half of individuals’ free time.

What did people do with those four hours a day before the television came along? They spent time with the neighbors, with their families, and with their communities. The “good old days” were simply sucked into the television set. The fastest way to get them back is to get rid of your TV.

TV ISOLATES US

TV does not unite us. It does not bring us together in any meaningful way, although it is sometimes portrayed that way. The physical act of watching TV isolates us from one another. We don’t chat over dinner. We are plugged into the TV set. We don’t visit the neighbors. We watch “Friends”. We don’t play ball with our children. We watch the “Playoffs”.

We can not enjoy the warmth of the sun, if we are indoors watching TV. We cannot savor the beauty of nature if we are parked on a safa watching TV. “Nature” and “National Geographic” can not compare with the real thing. Most importantly, we can not enjoy one another’s company if our attention is locked on the TV screen. TV always demands our full attention.

COMMUNITES OF TV’s

There can be a room full of people, but if a TV is playing, everyone will be plugged into the set, mesmerized by the flickering lights. Watch it. Watch a party be ground to a halt by a TV.

That is what is happening on a larger scale with our communities. There are communities full of people, all ignoring each other as they are plugged into their TV. Drive around almost any community at night. Are people gathered in groups gossiping and having fun with one another? More likely, you will pass by a plethora of isolated houses with eerie lights flickering through the windows. From a distance those lights are downright creepy.

PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED AND RELATIONSHIPS BUILT

Get a taste of the “good old days” by turning off the TV. It is not that problems vanish when you turn OFF the TV. Problems do not vanish any more than they do when the TV is ON. My idyllic scene was disrupted shortly after I descibed it by the kids’ bickering. However, they resolved their differences and started playing in the sandbox.

That is the key. They were still interacting and could resolve their problems. Turning off the TV frees them to solve their problems and to grow in their relationships.

I have studied history extensively. I know full well that the past is full of pain and suffering as well as joy. People have also made great strides in many social issues over the past several decades. Yet, we lost something critical to our existance when we plugged in the TV and left it on for over four hours a day. We lost the time that used to go to building relationships, to loving, to living, and to connecting with each other.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Go back to the “good old days” by turning off your TV. Turn it off and play outdoors with your family. Go for a walk. Invite the neighbors over for a barbeque. Host a family game night. Read with your children. All these activities are relaxing and build essential relationships. They are also things people used to do in the “good old days”. Going back is as simple as pushing a button–the OFF button.

Katherine Westphal is the founder of a daring new website Trash Your TV! (http://www.trashyourtv.com) that makes it fun and easy for people to get control of their TV set. Are you addicted to TV? Take our TV Addiction Quiz (http://www.trashyourtv.com/survey) and find out!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Katherine_Westphal

For the neighborhood kids growing up in the late 60’s, the fort was a representation of both our independence and ingenuity. We had a place to call home on those beautiful and endless summer evenings where it stayed light until well past 9 p.m., signaling we would not be called back home until darkness fell. Summer meant no school and an extra hour or two with our friends swapping stories. More important, we designed and built the BoGaKoTeZa sanctuary with our own hands. What a pleasurable reminder this was of our early team building efforts.

Growing up on The Hill, as it was commonly referred to, was an exercise in youthful utopia. In the 1950’s, many young married couples pushed slightly westward in the Chicago suburbs to secure an affordable home with a small piece of land. Most of the homes were similar tidy brick ranch structures with 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a family room, and a 1 car garage positioned on a quarter-acre (or less) of land. The very rare split-level would occasionally interrupt the sea of small ranch homes. Situated behind the houses on our block were sloping dense woods where we would walk, play, and socialize for hours. Kids ruled the neighborhood. It seems that nearly all the parents were in their middle to late 20s, of Bohemian or Polish ancestry, and had several kids in tow. The neighbors at the end of our block had 6 children, and our next door neighbors – the “Za” in the name of our fort — ultimately had 8 children. We were the exception — Irish Catholic with a relatively paltry 4 children.

This was a period when kids went outdoors and played. Perhaps in the spirit of pre-video game suburbia, kids were forced to congregate, play sports, communicate, and learn from each other. Our backyard, like that of all the neighbors, and in stark contradiction to Robert Frost’s admonition that “good fences make good neighbors”, was devoid of a fence and represented an open invitation of friendship. The backyard, meanwhile, was never an appropriate advertisement for Scot’s Turf Builder. Instead, our backyard was an active child’s paradise, simultaneously torn up to construct a mini golf course, beaten down in straight lines where we frequently ran the bases, or shredded completely to accommodate a lawn hockey game complete with homemade nets constructed of wood and chicken wire. Perhaps the greatest news was that our parents would either help in the construction of the various backyard games or, at the very least, enjoy having all the neighborhood kids visit and play. Except when we would inadvertently destroy the same sapling that my dad tried to plant, year after year.

The Hill was not only a haven for kids. For some relatively strange reason (strange by today’s standards anyway), the parents all got along seemingly well, too. They were part of bowling leagues, social clubs, invitees for each other’s parties, and communal workers when the water well needed to be repaired. This was a group of young people who rarely had two nickels to rub together, but who always helped each other and pulled together in time of need. These neighbors never moved. To this day, 50 plus years later, there remains a handful of the old guard still living on The Hill. Our 40-year home tenure was probably the norm.

The Hill was also a place of great experimentation. Most of the neighbor kids had their first communal taste of alcohol or nicotine, represented in the form of a beer or pack of cigarettes surreptitiously pilfered from someone’s house. And many more kids had that first kiss with the neighbor girl. With the assistance of my best neighborhood friend, a girl with whom I enjoyed that first kiss, I even unintentionally lit my first and only forest fire. It certainly didn’t help matters that as the fire started to spread, we tried to “smother” the conflagration with dried leaves to the horror of the volunteer fire department. That’s a story for another time.

From a child’s perspective, we were engaging in exciting yet debaucherous and sinful activities that might forever condemn us to hell. Forty years later, it is obvious that these were innocent and perhaps even necessary steps in our adolescent development.

Fort BoGaKoTeZa lasted a couple of summers and in the end was torn down or died of neglect as we grew older. I can’t remember which. But I do remember the pride in its construction and the joy we all felt hanging out there. These were simpler days, forever gone, only to be pulled from our memories. I miss The Hill.

http://www.dailyharangue.com

The Daily Harangue was started by a group of friends who had much to say, but agreed on little. These candid discussions on topics ranging from politics to music, nature to art, life, love, and the human condition have always been a free flow of ideas that serve to strengthen, rather than to destroy, the bonds of our friendship.

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After World War II technology took over our lives. We began to live in a fast paced world where we didn’t have time to sit on our porch or to socialize with our neighbors, thus the decline of the front porch. This allowed the criminal to move into our neighborhoods. We don’t even know the name of most of our neighbors, we don’t have time to stop and say hi let alone gather to talk, sing or play games.

Lately there has been a yearning to go back to simpler times, when life was simpler, when we knew our next door neighbor. In recent years we have seen the return of the front porch but we still don’t have the time to sit and gather with our neighbors.

So what would happen if we actually took the time to sit on our porch and get to know the people next door? Maybe this would help bring our neighborhoods back to the safe place they used to be. Maybe it would deter the murderer, the rapist, the child predator or the drug dealer from moving next door.

We need to take back our neighborhoods so that our children are safe. Maybe the answer is so simple that we have overlooked it. Maybe it is as simple as the return of the front porch. But it won’t do any good to just build a porch we will have to actually use it.

One way to implement the use of the front porch is to invite your neighbors over for a pot luck barbecue. There are many activities you will be able to come up with that everyone would enjoy.

So why don’t we turn off the televisions, get off the internet and take the time to gather on the front porch, get to know our neighbors and bring back the safe haven our neighborhoods should be.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it’s just as simple as making our front porch a gathering place.

Diana Bays is the co-owner of Mamma’s Primitive Hut. Visit her online store for your candle needs [http://www.mammasprimitivehut.com].

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We set up tables and chairs. Everyone contributes something whether it is food, plates, utensils, or drinks. It’s a combined effort and every bit of it is worthwhile. Neighbors of all variety show up; young parents, old parents, empty nesters, grandparents. Adults stand around and talk. Kids run around and play. It truly is one of the simplest forms of entertainment you can provide.

I can attest that the concept of block parties works. My family ventures outside more and now we take the time to walk across the street to say hello. I feel more comfortable going next door to borrow a cup of sugar. There are now additional adults that care, and watch my children while they play outside.

You get the wonderful gift of knowing different types of people who are interesting in different ways. It teaches your kids (and reminds yourself) to respect and appreciate the people that are, logistically, the closest to you. I have many neighbors who I consider friends. I encourage you to start your own neighborhood block parties. It will give you an accessible, extended family and provide wonderful memories for your children.

FamilyIgloo.com ( http://www.familyigloo.com ), an online social network for families in Orange County and Los Angeles, has a family events calendar. FamilyIgloo.com ( http://www.familyigloo.com ) provides parents of children and kids, PTA, and families with parenting articles and the resources to connect and get together in schools and neighborhoods. Our mission is: “Connecting Families and Building Communities”.

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o Lawn aeration is the least expensive way to overseed your existing lawn using our “throw and grow” method.

o Lawn aeration improves grass rooting.

o Lawn aeration also improves soil drainage.

o Lawn aeration exposes cranefly larvae to predators such as birds.

o Lawn aeration creates thousands of holes that act as reservoirs to hold water.

o Lawn aeration allows the exchange of gases from soil to air.

o Lawn aeration increases a lawn’s resistance to disease.

o Lawn aeration increases a lawn’s heat and drought tolerance.

o Aerating your lawn twice a year in the spring and fall will give you a lush green lawn.

o Lawn aeration helps break down thatch.

o Lawn aeration helps integrate two soil types together such as a thin layer of topsoil and clay for better root development and drainage.

o Lawn aeration is not a standalone cure all but it sure alleviates a lot of problems for home, commercial and sports lawns. This is why golf courses, parks departments and professional sports teams spend many thousands of dollars every year on lawn aeration. In fact golf courses have soil analysis done four times a year by mobile labs.

The aeration a golf course does can go down 24 inches. Then with the test results of the soil from the mobile laboratory, an exact soil amendment can be put in the aeration holes to change the soil profile over time. This is where homeowners get into serious trouble.
The golfer figures just add sand and everything will be OK. Incorrect sand and clay can make your soil into a concrete substance. Then even the backhoe operator will have a hard time correcting your mistake. This is why I say add an organic material that will break down over time, add nutrients to the soil, and encourage the best aerators nature has: worms.

Aeration does not promise miracles, but here in the Northwest, I’ve seen a great many yards turned around in a short amount of time.

Remember folks, enjoy your lawn. I give you permission to stress over your lawn only when your neighbors complain about your green fees.

Stewart Armour has extensive education in turf management in Western Washington. The first turf class he attended was Golf Course Construction and Design in 1981, taught by Jerry Mackie at Bellevue CC. In 1994 he majored in turf management at South Seattle CC, taught by Steve Nord. After several years, he advanced to Clover Park Technical College and studied under a local golf course superintendent, John Ford. This class was for people employed in the golf course trade. Stewart took the course twice during consecutive Springs. He toured many local golf courses and consistently had the best superintendents in the area for lectures and Q and A.

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Some only allow you to search by counties. While others are more detailed, allowing you to search by street. Most can be found by clicking on a link for your State Police website.

Sex offenders are not the only criminals lurking in your neighborhood. Would you want your child playing near the home of a convicted drug felon?  Probably not. But where can you find information this information? The internet is littered with “free public records” sites. After clicking on these you will be given a form to fill out and mail in to obtain your information.

Today’s technology is so great that most of us are a little spoiled. We don’t want to wait. We want to download our information now! Your daughter is getting married and you want to know if her fiance’ has any type criminal history? Please wait 7-10 business days for a response. Really? There are several different programs available online that offer you instant answers. Most have a membership fee. Although I believe that most people will not mind spending a few dollars to ensure that they’re children and family members are safe in their community.

Click Here!

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As you become aware of the vast selection of outdoor Christmas decor items that are available to you by shopping online, you will want to create a Christmas outdoor display that will dazzle your friends and neighbors. There are thousands of unique holiday decor items, made to be used outdoors, available to you as you browse through the websites of some of the online merchants that specialize in outdoor Christmas decor items. I hope that the information and ideas in this article help you make a real statement in your neighborhood and actually WOW everyone who sees your property and your Christmas display masterpiece.

No matter what you are decorating the quality vendors that you can find online have you covered. You can find great Christmas decorations and Holiday displays made especially for outdoor use so you can create any theme for any application. Your LED outdoor Christmas lights and other Christmas decorations will look great in front of your home or business, or as a part of a public display at a park or shopping center.

Advantage of Using LED Outdoor Christmas Lights

Many of the new Christmas decor products, made for outdoor use, are lighted with energy efficient, long-lasting LED lights. These lights will outlast dozens of the traditional C7 or C9 Christmas light bulbs. The LED lights will also burn cooler reducing the fire hazard associated with the traditional C7 and C9 light bulbs. Because these LED lights last longer, they will also drastically reduce the time you have been spending replacing burned out light bulbs. Also the energy savings when you use LED lighting with your outdoor Holiday displays can be up to 98% over using traditional light bulbs. You can dazzle your neighbors and friends and still be green at the same time.

Safety is an important consideration when you are dealing with lighted Christmas decorations. You want to always check to be sure that your lighted items, controllers, timers, extension cords, and other related item used in your Christmas lighted displays are all UL Listed. Many of the cheap imported electrical item are not UL Listed and should be avoided.

Include Inflatable Christmas Decorations in Your Display

You may want to include brilliant life size or smaller yard art displays in your outdoor Holiday display creation. These items may be lighted or might require independent illumination. There is a wide range in size, construction, and cost when it comes to inflatable Christmas decorations. They can range from simple inflatable nylon or vinyl figures to lighted and animated high-end yard art items. Including inflatable or other yard art items in your display can add real dimension and presence to your creation.

It Pays to Buy Quality

One of the things that is important when purchasing items for your outdoor Christmas display is to buy quality products. When you buy quality products from reputable online vendors, you will have Holiday decor items that will last you for many years to come. Since these items will last so long, you can continue to add to your collection every year so your display will become even better will each passing Holiday season.

Another of the great features of quality outdoor Christmas decorations is that they are easy to install. Quality products will come with all of the parts and accessories that you need for a quick and easy assembly and setup. Also they will be easier to take down and store for the next Holiday season.

Summary

We are confident that you are going to create one of the best if not the best Christmas yard displays in your neighborhood. We hope that the information in this article has been helpful to you. We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday and a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment from creating your outdoor Holiday display.

Paul E. Dulin, Business Owner and Internet Business Coach. I have a background in sales, advertising and marketing. It has been my life’s goal to help people find and get what they are looking for. What I am doing now gives me great satisfaction because it fulfills my goal.

If you are looking for a great selection of outdoor Christmas decor products and a good deal on your selections, be sure to visit my website. Thank you for your consideration, Paul

http://www.outdoorchristmasdecorsite.com

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But first, let me tell you a little story. I know a single mother who was looking for a house. Her main requirement was that it had to be safe for her children. After months of looking she found the perfect house on a cul-de-sac in a great neighborhood and the price was right, too. After moving in one of her neighbors stopped in to welcome her to the neighborhood. One comment from the neighbor got her attention, though. She said she really admired her bravery.

Naturally my friend was curious what that meant. After pressing the neighbor she told her that her new next door neighbor was registered sex offender. That’s why the house had been priced so low – because nobody wanted to buy it because of the sex offender. And that’s why the previous owner was desperate to sell. And apparently the the offender really liked young children.

Needless to say my friend was frightened. She couldn’t turn right around and sell the house so she ended up installing a new fence and alarm system. And her kids never left the house without her. That’s no way to live. And it’s a shame because it is so easy to perform a sex offender search. And it doesn’t cost anything.

Thanks to the internet and the need for people to be aware of their surroundings the government has made it much easier to find out if offenders are lurking in your neighborhood or wherever you may be moving. And it will tell you exactly where they live and include photos. I know my wife was shocked the first time she did a search to find out how many offenders were near us. Of course this is for information purposes only, it does not give you the right to camp out on their lawn or otherwise harass them. You may want to but it is against the law.

Not all details are included on the sites. It won’t necessarily tell you their exact crime but will give you a good idea of what they may have done. And having this information could have saved my friend a lot of grief and money. So how do you search? It really is easy.

Go to Google or your favorite search engine and search for “Sex offenders in [your state]“. This should show you the state site where you can find everything you need.
Do you really know who’s living next to you?

David Lemon is the owner of TDL People Search. You can visit his site at http://www.tdl-people-search.com where you can search for anyone you’d like to find as well as perform background checks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Lemon

A neighborhood association is basically a group that organizes crime watches, welcome wagons and special events. A neighborhood yard sale or block party can help people raise money and meet new people. If you are really ambitious you could even start a neighborhood newsletter. It is community efforts like these that help neighborhoods grow closer and give each other the support system that is so important – especially during tough times like these. There is a comfort in knowing who your neighbors are, knowing that they will be there for you during difficult medical or financial times or even just when you need a friendly shoulder to lean on or a cup of sugar.

The first step to starting a neighborhood association is deciding on a place to meet. Usually a community resource like a youth center or school will let you use space for free. You could even use a room in your house if it is large enough to hold a moderate-size group of people.

Next you’ll want to print out flyers announcing your initial neighborhood meeting. It doesn’t have to be fancy or elaborate, just a simple sheet detailing the purpose of the meeting, location, time and date. Hang flyers up in prominent areas in the neighborhood such as churches, grocery stores, schools and recreation centers. It may also be appropriate to leave flyers on people’s doorstops. My neighborhood association set up a refreshment stand during Halloween and offered a sign-up sheet for people interested in joining the association. Later they could use the contact information to get people together for neighborhood meetings. However you get the word out the next step is preparing for the event/meeting. Some planning is a good idea at this time. Write an outline of the points you want to discuss and some plans you have for the future of the neighborhood. Next you’ll want to provide some coffee, fruit punch and maybe some baked goods for the meeting.

At this first meeting you can talk about the different functions that you would like the organization to perform. For example, you’ll need a committee to oversee the neighborhood association. Other possibilities are a welcome wagon which will welcome new families, introduce themselves and provide a basket with neighborhood information, coupons from local businesses, and possibly a little welcoming gift. Or possibly a group of neighbors would like to work together on a neighborhood newsletter to keep the neighbors up to date on the goings on in the area, such as births, deaths, school and church events, weddings, etc. You can also set up a group to act as a crime watch to either patrol the streets at night or at least keep an eye on homes while the residents are out of town.

You won’t believe the feeling of belonging that comes over a neighborhood when the members of it is working on making it a safe, clean, peaceful and friendly place to live.

For more information on becoming active in your community, please visit http://www.lendahandri.com

Jenn Carpenter works as a freelance writer, blogger and internet marketer from her home in Warwick, RI. She is a mother of three as well as an active member of her community. To learn more about her amazing story check out http://www.livingmybigdream.com

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