Some new neighbors and their very yappy dog moved into our apartment complex recently. The day after they moved in, everyone on their side of the court yard got a $10 gift certificate to the local movie theater and a little bag of candy left on their door step with a note reading, "We are working on the barking thing with a trainer. Please don't hate us."

The other night, it stormed, and that dog yowled for six hours. That little gesture of kindness was what prevented me from killing them all.

Wow - that's great. I write about this, too, in the same chapter, in a few places.

In a sort of different variation on this, I just had a new neighbor move in, and I haven't left the house recently, but I had big bottles of Pellegrino. I put a big, hot pink bow around one and attached a welcome note (also giving my contact info and saying that I try not to be annoying but to let me know if I do anything that bothers him). I had the guy who was moving out leave it for the new guy. The new guy, now someone I've very fond of, really seemed to appreciate that.

We politely asked the next door neighbor several times to please remove the dinner plate sized piles his 120 pound dog was leaving in our front yard.

When he failed to comply, my husband used a snow shovel to place them all on his front porch.

That probably wasn't very mannerly, but we didn't find any more piles in our yard after that.

I just had a new neighbor move in, and I haven't left the house recently, but I had big bottles of Pellegrino. I put a big, hot pink bow around one and attached a welcome note (also giving my contact info and saying that I try not to be annoying but to let me know if I do anything that bothers him).

So nice!

I think neighborliness that's hard to come by in places with a transient population. I remember welcoming new people to the neighborhood when growing up, and I miss that, now that I move apartments every couple years.

One thing my boyfriend does that I've always liked is, when we move into a new apartment, he knocks on our neighbors' doors, gives them his cellphone number and tells them to call him if we're being annoying. We do tend to host gatherings a lot, AND we both play instruments, so we WANT people to call us if we're being too loud. That initial meeting with our neighbors was how we found that one was a nurse who works nights. So we're extra careful, even during times when society deems it "OK" to be a bit noisy, like Saturday afternoons because that's when she's sleeping.

Living closely with others entails being extra considerate but also extra understanding that noise will happen. Knowing your neighbors by name and doing nice stuff for each other makes that easier.

You all sound like wonderful neighbors!

I wish some of you were my neighbors instead of some of the idiots we have in my complex. The title of this post, Amy, sums up some of my neighbors: "Whether To Approach A Problem Neighbor?"

Sometimes there are neighbors so bad, that have no sense of decency that it is out of fear that one doesn't approach them and instead calls the cops.

For example, one night we had two "ladies" screaming at each other around 3:00 AM in the middle of our courtyard, waking up everyone whose apartment faced inside. When the younger woman screamed something along the lines of "you're not my mother because all you did was push me out of your fucking cunt" I decided that it might be best to call the cops instead of just trying to drown out the noise under my pillow.

And there was certainly no way was I going to try to reason with such idiots to ask them to keep the noise down. I don't need to be involved in their very public, but should be private, fight.

Book has been pre-ordered. Not sure how quickly I will read it, given the two-toddler/two-career nature of my family, but the order will show up in your sales. :) Congratulations! Looking forward to checking it out.