When I look at Summit House, I see a quality building. I'm not the only one. I've been around repair people and craftsmen who visit here for the first time. I've heard them say, "Wow. This building is well maintained. I hate to tell you what we see around town."

An issue I've heard raised many times at Summit House meetings is "cleanliness." An owner will say, "I saw a little dust in the stairwell" or "The bookshelves in the library have some dust." There is a simple fact about our building: It is cleaner today than it ever has been in its history. Since James acquired the garage sweeping machine, he removes dust before it enters our building. Because of that, he collects much less dust when he vacuums the carpets. He bought a commercial carpet cleaning machine. Our building is a clean one.

But, there is something about Summit House I, myself, wish would "improve." Before discussing it, I need to remind myself I'm like everyone else. That is, I moved here from somewhere else and brought my bias about how things should look, what is important and how things should be done. We lived in the same house for 40 years. The last 30 of those years we applied no fertilizer or herbicide to our lawn, nothing. It held its green better during drought than our heavily treated neighbor's grass.  All leaves and grass were composted on the lawn. Driving past or walking past our house, the lawn looked lush and green. I will admit when walking on the grass one could see some weeds and bare spots. When discussing my lawncare philosophy on Face Book I draw the ire of some readers when I point out that no one has ever died from looking at a dandelion. We were proud we sent no runoff fertilizer or herbicide into the local rivers.

I wish our lawn maintenance put more emphasis on our natural environment, less herbicide and fertilizer. These are washed from our lawn into the river. My view has not and probably will not prevail at Summit House, so I best move on.

Here is a chance for others to chime in with their ideas about things they think Summit House could improve. Let me set down a rule to list only a couple of issues and please make comments brief. Please enter your name and unit. Thanks for doing that.