Jan & Don Muhs
They’re making their neighbors feel safe, secure and lucky
It’s probably safe to say that Barbara Wade wouldn’t trade her next-door neighbors with anybody.
Barbara feels safe and secure — and very lucky — knowing that Jan and Don Muhs live next door and always are watching out for her.
Like, for example, two years ago when Barbara had shoulder surgery. She didn’t have to worry about her responsibilities at home because Jan and Don took care of everything, from walking the dog to mowing her yard to raking the leaves to hanging the laundry out to dry.
“They have been so helpful,” Barbara said. “When I had shoulder surgery, they just took over and helped with so much stuff.
“They’re just great neighbors and great people.”
Barbara also appreciates that Don plows her driveway after it snows without her ever asking. In fact, Barbara said she didn’t have to shovel her driveway once last winter.
“It’s just part of what we do,” Jan said. “We have very good neighbors on both sides of us.”
The Muhs’ have lived next door to Barbara for the past 17 years.
Don now chuckles about how careful Barbara was when they first met as neighbors. Barbara was so concerned about being a good neighbor that she avoided walking on the Muhs’ front yard every time she visited their house.
“She’d walk clear out to the road then come down our driveway,” Don said. “I said, ‘Barbara, you don’t have to go all the way around. You can walk on our yard. I don’t have a problem with that.’
“So it’s kind of eased off.”
Jan and Barbara spend a lot of their time just chatting.
“We’re always at the clothesline at the same time,” Jan said.
This Christmas Don decided not to decorate the evergreen tree that’s between his and Barbara’s houses because the tree has gotten too big.
But knowing how much Barbara liked seeing the lights, Don decorated her side of the tree instead.
“That really touched my heart,” Barbara said.
Barbara works longs hours at her job, so having Jan and Don around helps take away some of the burden at home.
“She’ll be leaving the house at a little after five in the morning and she won’t be coming home until seven o’clock at night,” Don said. “So here are these two retirees (with time to help).”
Don said the reason he and his wife enjoy helping Barbara is simple.
“We do what neighbors do,” Don said. “We talk across the yard, and she’s a friendly person like I am.”
Barbara also is eager to reciprocate.
There was the time last summer when Jan lost her car keys at the Johnson County Fair.
“So I called over and Barb brought the keys down,” Jan said. “That’s what she did.”
— Pat Harty
