To all of our pet owners

Hello Neighbors!
I would just like to say something to all of our pet owners in the neighborhood. Please, please, PLEASE look after your pets! Yesterday morning I encountered two pit bulls running alone on my street. Upon seeing me they run up to me barking and growling. I immediatealy stood still like a tree and folded my arms tightly behind my back. They both jumped up on me but did not knock me down. Seeing what was happening outside, my husband ran into the back yard to get their attention allowing me to escape into the house. Upon entering, I snatched up the phone and dialed 911! My husband soon joined me when he realized that I was safely inside. After we noticed that the dogs were gone, we got into our truck and went to look for them so that we could update the 911 officer. We found them around the corner on Baird St., but soon realized that there were some children playing in front of their house and had no idea about the dogs coming their way. We sped past the dogs and yelled for the kids to go into the house to which their mother quickly brought them inside and thanked us from behind her screen door. The two dogs proceeded to walk around checking things out and even circled our truck a few times. As we looked down at them, we were able to see the sadness in their eyes... they just wanted to go home! This also gave me an opportunity to realize that these dogs might belong to my neighbor across the street from us. Sure enough, as we continued to follow them, they made their way back to their home but instead of being greated by their owner, they were met by the dog catcher! They were rounded up and taken away.

There are several things I would like to point out in this story:
1) Luckily, NO ONE WAS HURT!!
2) Since we owned an American Staffordshire Terrier (a cousin of the pit bull, but a little bigger!), I knew enough not to run or make eye contact with the dogs so that I wouldn't seem threatening or give them a reason to chase me.
3) Although pit bulls (and some other big breeds such as Dobies and Rotties) have had some bad press, this is mainly due to the way their people have trained them (or lack there of) not because they are bad breeds!
4) Please be aware of your pets! No matter if they are pit bull or poodle, any dog can be aggressive to strangers! And any animal with teeth can bite!
5) Last, but not least, remember to put collars with id tags on your pets. If they become lost, this makes it easier to identify and return your pets back to you!

Please remember that pets are wonderful companions, but being a pet owner requires a lot of responsibility. There are a lot of "former pets" at the pound due to lack of responsible owners. Don't let your pet become one of them!

Your neighbor,
Kisha

PS...
Did I mention where we where going before all of this happened? We were off to Lollypop Farm to look for a new dog to bring home!

Visiting Nurses

Hello all. I received a phone call from a neighbor yesterday asking me to pass along some information. She informed me that there are some people that are posing as visiting nurses to gain access to houses and are then stealing once inside. Apparently they follow the nurses to see where they are going and then come back in a couple of days pretending to be a visiting nurse. The "nurse" asks for a urine sample and while the patient is busy, proceeds to look for items to take. According to my neighbor (who, by the way, was informed of this from her visiting nurse!) this was discovered because people noticed things were missing from their homes. They also noticed that the "nurses" were not calling ahead to confirm their appointments as the real nurses do, so people started calling the visiting nurse services office to ask questions. Although this news is disturbing, it is important to note that NO ONE WAS HURT BY THE PERSON!! If you have a visiting nurse or know someone who does, please pass this info on to them. Remember to ask to see proper identification and do not hesitate to call to verify their badges. This is also true for the meter readers (ex. RG&E), cable TV repair persons, or phone company personnel. If you see anything that looks questionable, please don't hesitate to call 911!

Your neighbor,
Kisha

Hello!!

Hello and welcome to the LeFrois St. neighborhood blog space. As this is my first posting, I would like to tell you what I hope this blog will become...
1) A space to inform you, the reader, about things that's happening around our 'hood.
2) A space to share all the wonderful things that make up our 'hood!
That's it! Wasn't that easy? Here's what I would NOT like this blog to be...
1) A space that overly political
2) A space that promotes anger and hatred
3) A space that doesn't highlight all the potential that our neighborhood and it's residents have!

So let's begin...
As we begin to switch from the very hot temperatures of the summer months to the cooler, and in my opinion, more friendly temps of fall, I invite you all to take a walk around our streets and meet some of your fellow neighbors that are out walking pets, playing with their kids, or maybe getting the gardens ready for winter. We have some homes in the area that have recently been purchased and this is a great time to meet our new neighbors. Invite them over for coffee, or better yet, invite them to our next block club so that we can all introduce ourselves to them! What a great way to welcome them to the neighborhood! Our next meeting will be on Oct. 23rd at 7 PM in room A/C of the Wilson Health Center.
We still have some energy saving light bulbs left over from our "Light up the Night" program that was started earlier this year. In case you don't know, this was a program that was started to light up our streets and keep our neighborhood safer. We encourage you to use the bulbs in front of your house during the overnight hours. These spiral bulbs use less energy than the regular incandescent bulbs you are familiar with, using only 13 watts of energy to power the 60 watts it omits. If you would like a bulb, please see me at our next meeting.
To close, I would like to thank you for reading this blog. Please keep checking for future blogs as I hope to have one listed soon!
Your neighbor,
Kisha