So I was driving through a Westlake neighborhood and I saw this cool chain hanging from a house. It was a rain chain.  I did a little investigating…For hundreds of years, the Japanese have used the roof of their homes to collect water, transporting it downward with chains and finally depositing the rain water into large barrels for household water usage. The rain chain also brings peacefulness to your garden.

Everyone could use one…..cross your fingers for rain!

Try Rain Chain to order one online.

Sorry for my recent silence, animal-loving readers! I’ve been busy with work, which is a good thing for journalists in these trying times.

I know you’re busy, too. And I know we all want to help animals however we can. But who has spare cash or time these days? So in this post, I offer three fast ways to help animals without spending a dime. All you have to do is click.

DONATE WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME — Help animals every time you recycle old electronic junk, sell stuff on e-Bay, use your credit card for daily purchases and even send emails. Check out these Humane Society programs: http://action.humanesociety.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=2901.0&dlv_id=6581

CLICK & FEED — Click here: www.theanimalrescuesite.com. Now click on the purple box. Congratulations – you just contributed .6 bowl of food to a hungry cat or dog. It’s easy; it’s free; no strings attached; it takes less than a second. Tell everyone. Make this your home page.

WRITE OFF VET BILLS? — I want to do the right thing for my furry friends, but geez! Seems like I drop a couple hundred dollars every time the vet looks in my cat’s ear! That’s why, to be honest, my pets don’t see the vet as often as they should. Help may be on the way. A new federal bill — H.R. 3501—the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (“HAPPY”) Act—would reward pet parents with a tax deduction of up to $3,500 for expenses like veterinary visits. That means more animals will get the care they need. Sound good. To tell Congress you support this bill, go to https://secure2.convio.net/aspca/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2605

We may soon be able to claim vet bills as a tax deduction.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will make sure your representative receives your email.

Two recent studies point again to what parenting pros consistently claim…parents think their kids aren’t listening but we actually have more influence than we might imagine. This week it has to do with teen drivers, a subject near and dear to any suburbanite’s heart. Like it or not, suburbia is land of the cars. Our roads are built far wider than traditional town streets and we have evil things called collector roads, those big main arteries connecting all the little cul-de-sac neighborhoods. This adds up to dangerous intersections and wide, speed-promoting roadways. It’s brutal out there. Teens (and adults) may have trouble slowing down once they get off the collector road. Furthermore, coming off the freeway at 70 mph, they may even be going too fast to read those polite but small neighborhood signs that say “Relax, Slow Down, You’re Home.” Back to the studies on teen driving, though.The studies were published in the journal Pediatrics.

The main point: Parents who set rules and boundaries, and follow through on said rules, have kids who tend to drive safer. Teens who say their parents are actively involved:

• cut their risk of drinking and driving by 70%,
• are half as likely to speed
• are 30% less likely to use a cellphone while driving.

Also, kids who have to borrow a family car instead of having access to their own car are half as likely to get into a crash. Of course, the message with the newest studies is that parents have the most impact. But police officers can also help. In California, the CHP now offers the Start Smart program, a free workshop families take together to learn more about safe driving practices. Out here, call Officer Terry Uhrich at (805) 553-0800 for more info. If you’re not here, try your local police department. The Auto Club also offers a bunch of teen safety tips and a downloadable model contract that you can force your kid to sign before relinquishing the keys. It’s all worth a try!

Ever wonder what a camera-happy six-year-old who has commandeered his mom’s iPhone might do on a adventure to the Hammer? No? Too bad. That’s what you’re going to see today. I won’t lament how we don’t have much in the way of museums out here in Ventura County or how we don’t have decent public transit to take us in to L.A. (hence, there were a lot of photos of the back of my head)…nope, not today. Because it’s Friday and this is just meant to inspire you or maybe it’s meant to show you what your kid sees. I dunno. I was frankly going to erase all these photos once I wrestled my  phone back but I got to looking at them and I thought, you know, this is kind of interesting. The exhibit we saw was apropos because the artists used LOTS of TAPE! My son’s favorite. They also used deflated soccer balls and bottle caps and stuff like that. It was fun. Really. If you want to check out the Hammer, it’s right on Wilshire near UCLA and you can even go on a Thursday when it’s free. Bonus: The security people are very nice and don’t  seem to mind fun-loving children one bit. So, here it goes, a kid’s photo documentation from start to finish of our excellent adventure (minus about 200 shots of the back of my head, the parking garage, the drive home, etc.)…

Dudamel. Photo credit:Anna Hult

As most people know, Gustavo Dudamel is set to take over as conductor of the L.A. Phil. You are already way too late for the free tix to Dudamel’s Oct 3 Hollywood Bowl concert. However, October 8th there will be the major gala event at Disney Hall. Dudamel will be conducting the orchestra in the world premiere of “City Noir” by John Adams and Mahler’s First Symphony. But who cares what he’s conducting. Whatever he’s doing, it will be fascinating. (My music critic friend from Philly, who will be here during the festivities, has started to refer to Dudamel as “the wizard.”)  Anyhow, this is the truly important part: if you want to try to get tix for the wild festivities downtown, go to the Music Center and sign up. It’s a lotto and you will probably not get them but you might as well try. They say it’s only appropriate for kids 8 and older. There will be many plasma screens set up at several locations, including outside at the Music Center Plaza and inside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. But, of course, if you don’t want to drive downtown you can also watch it on your own plasma TV.  The L.A. Times reported that the concert will air Oct. 21 on PBS.