Nighttime is another story. My neighbors, like me, have escaped to this rural area from densely-populated suburbia. Unlike me, my neighbors are afraid of the dark. They illuminate their houses on all sides with blinding floodlights. In suburbia, this is a good idea.
Floodlights deter burglars.
Out here in the boondocks, far from the road, your neighbors are too far away to see someone skulking around your house. If anything, the floodlights make a burglar's work easier, revealing the window you've left open or the ladder at the back of your house. So, here I am, settling onto the bottom step of my front porch, when I look up and, squinting into the glare, I count five floodlights blazing at me from these three houses. One of the houses is reflected in the pond that separates us, so there are, effectively, six lights. I feel as though I'm being interrogated, and wonder what crime I have committed to deserve this.