Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

September, 2012

“Blue Moon
  You saw me standing alone.
  Without a dream in my heart.
  Without a love of my own.”

Hope you enjoy tonight’s blue moon. There won’t be another one for 3 years.

Labor Day weekend . . . the summer is over. School is back in session. This year there is a new principal at Forest Hills Elementary for the first time in 15 years. Krystal Carson joins our Forest Family after spending the last 8 years as principal at Dunbar Elementary in West Tampa, and Sandra Thrower retires.

So now, with school back in session, the autumn season begins.

 Autumn: the prelude to the winter holidays & cooler weather (let’s hope at least less humid weather!). Folks start cleaning up the leaves that fall and cleaning up the yards in general, since the temperatures are more comfortable to workoutdoors. Now is the time to get acquainted with your neighbors . . . exchange phone numbers, maybe offer to help with a project, maybe find a neighbor with an extension ladder that is just a little bit longer than yours, who will let you borrow it. Or one with a pick-up truck that will run you down to the local home improvement store to bring back that lumbar which won’t fit in your sedan. Neighbor helping neighbor . . . neighbor looking out for neighbor . . .that’s the theme of Neighborhood Watch.

Football season: happens every autumn. Now for the Thursday and Friday night crowds for Chamberlain’s junior varsity and varsity football games. You think that vehicle that keeps circling is just looking for a place to park to watch practice or the game? Might be.  Or might be casing the neighborhood. If it looks suspicious, call TPD. Let TPD decide if it’s innocent or not. That’s their job. And let’s support the Mighty Chiefs football team!

Decorating: The sheaves of wheat, bales of hay, scarecrows and pumpkins start coming out in anticipation of the fall harvest season . . . and Halloween.  All the maroon, gold and brown garlands of fall leaves twine around the porch railings and door frames.  And all the football teams flags are hanging from the front of the houses.  Pre game barbecues . . . another good excuse to re-acquaint with the neighbors!

Safety: while you’re cleaning up the falling leaves, now is the time to trim back those bushes and trees to allow more lighting to be cast across your yard – or to install/replace security lights. Burglars don’t like to work in the dark . . . and lighting the dark corners of your yard make it easier to see someone lurking under the cover of the bushes. Motion sensor lights seem to be the best alert that someone is there, as they turn on and off with movement. If you’re going away for the weekend to a school football game, or to take advantage of the beaches being less crowded after summer tourist season, be sure to alert a trusted neighbor to your absence. Have your newspaper delivery stopped or have someone pick up the paper and collect your mail for you. Set some timers on inside lighting to make it look like you’re home. Leave the radio on, or the tv, to simulate conversation indoors. Make sure your windows and doors are locked. Consider installing an alarm on the most remote windows or doors that will screech when the window/door is opened, to alert the neighbors if someone tries to jimmy it open – these alarms are very inexpensive and quite loud.

The criminal activity is still fairly low in our grid, but there have been several break-ins over the past month. Remember, keeping the neighborhood free of debris --including dumped-off mattresses & furniture -- helps keep criminals away. Sounds crazy, but a neighborhood that is littered and sloppy attracts the criminal element. And if your house backs up onto a busy thruway, such as Ola, it is easy to forget to keep the parkway mowed and free of litter – “out of sight, out of mind”. But please try to keep the parkways maintained. The city codes say that parkway maintenance is the responsibility of the homeowner – NOT the city. But regardless of the codes, we should be keeping them litter free as a matter of pride.

Are you tired of having to battle the flooding in our area that comes with the summer showers? Just imagine how bad the flooding would be if we get hit by a big storm! There may be some relief to be had in this dilemma. We hope to have some more information soon about a project which should help our flooding issues quite a bit, plus could put into place a wetland wildlife habitat right here in Forest Hills. Stay tuned. Or email us at EagleEyeGrid18@YAHOO.com so we can share with you what we know so far.

Anyone interested in forming a bicycle group? Again, email us at EagleEyeGrid18@YAHOO.com. Fall is a great time to get outdoors and scout out the community. You miss a lot when you’re driving by.

Barbecues . . . yard clean-up . . . decorating . . . lots of activities fixin’ to take place around here.

See you on the sidewalk . . . .