A little discussion broke out in the office this morning after two of my co-workers came in complaining of blisters and aching backs. Rather than use Angie's List to hire someone to rake leaves, they took on the task themselves.

Peter rents a home that has only a few trees but his neighbor on the right has a huge maple tree that deposits (according to Peter) the lion’s share of its leaves on his lawn. Peter contends that because he doesn’t own the tree, his neighbor should be responsible for raking, bagging and disposing of the leaves. His argument is based on the theory that if a neighbor’s tree falls on your house, the neighbor is responsible for fixing your damage. His other example was if a neighbor’s dog does his/her business in your yard, it’s clearly the responsibility of the pet owner to pick up the deposit.

Cheryl owns her home, along with the sweet gum, magnolia and oak trees that dot her front lawn. Leaves from Cheryl’s trees fall on her lawn and the lawns of her next-door neighbors. The neighbor on the west side has a big maple tree that deposits leaves on Cheryl’s lawn. The neighbor on the east has only a small oak on the far side of his lawn, which doesn’t send leaves Cheryl’s way. Cheryl’s contention is that because the wind dictates where the leaves go, she’s responsible only for her own yard.

As we near the end of the year, we’re also wrapping up the 2007 Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour.  After 15 tour stops around the country, we are thrilled to report that 266 kids were tested and 107 contractors were trained.  We also had more than 45 people show up to the “do-it-yourself” lead safety training sessions that were held in a few of the cities, and many more people who stopped in to ask questions and learn about the dangers of lead paint. 

We are proud to announce that we received the Indiana Lead Safe and Healthy Homes Award for our efforts in ensuring children stay safe.  We’ve worked hard on the tour this year, and are happy to be able to say we’ve made a difference and raised awareness on this serious issue.  Last week I attended Lead Safe and Healthy Homes annual conference in Indianapolis to accept the award on behalf of Angie’s List.  Joining me were the other award recipients: three outstanding individuals from Lead Safe Indiana, Asthma Safe Indiana, and Healthy Homes Indiana.  It was a pleasure to get the chance to meet wonderful people and organizations with a commitment to making sure that our children have safe places to live, learn, and play.

Recently, we have been flooded with stories about animals taking over members’ backyards.  As the weather gets colder, more animals tend to find their way into our members houses too.  Some of the stories are quite entertaining (as long as it isn’t your home).

One member found a possum living on dog biscuits under the kitchen sink. In another house, a squirrel found the couple’s bed to be a nice final resting place. One of my favorite stories is from a member who saw something moving in her tub drain. The specialist she called pulled out a bat with a three-foot wingspan! 

Some of our members have removed the unwanted animals themselves, which I think is fine if the animal in questions is small and not poisonous.  But if you’re afraid of the animal, or if it’s so big it could hurt you (a few of our members have had crocodile and bear encounters) I recommend calling in a professional.

Apparently, I’m no exception to this animal invasion trend.  My brush with animals ended up being dangerous - and I didn’t even come face to face with the intruder!  Last week I was chasing the kids around in the backyard and ended up catching my foot in a mole hole.  I fell hard on my knee and it to this day it still hurts.  

I think it’s about time to follow my own advice for animal removal and call a professional…

We held the first two stops of the Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour last weekend. The events in Indianapolis and the Bay Area attracted a lot of families AND contractors, but we want to have even more for our events in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and St. Louis on October 6.

One of my favorite quotes from the two events came from Alex Dongallo, a contractor in the Bay Area who summed up the reason we’re focusing so much time and attention on raising awareness. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Alex said the workshop he took was “eye opening."

'I've worked with a lot of painting contractors, and I think many of them need to be better educated,' he said. 'I think lead poisoning is something that needs to be better addressed. A lot of us don't think about how someone could get lead poisoning from work we do. We all need to be safer.'

Joe and I have lived in older homes that we’ve improved, and I’ve already had my kids tested to be sure their lead levels aren’t elevated. I also rejected a contractor who I’d interviewed to do work in my basement, which I was concerned might have lead paint. When he told me he couldn’t help with addressing issues regarding lead paint, I knew I needed a different contractor.

If you have kids and you live in an older home, please get the training you need to keep yourself away from lead dust. And have your kids tested either by your pediatrician, the local health department or at one of our Lead Safety tour events.

If you'd like to see what the news media is saying about the tour, here are two stories from last weekend.

Workshops, free testing at lead-poisoning prevention tour kickoff

Local Company Offers Lead Testing, Safety Training

I’m on the West Coast this week, meeting with members and media folks to talk about Angie’s List and to promote our national Lead Safety Tour, which kicks off this weekend in San Francisco and Indianapolis. It’s a great opportunity for service companies, do-it-yourselfers and parents to address an issue that we take very seriously here at Angie’s List: lead poisoning.

We’re offering the lead safety tour because we did a survey this summer to see how service professionals were dealing with lead issues. We found a third of the contractors we called were giving dangerous information. So we’re trying to raise awareness of the issue and offering training to help everyone deal with this serious issue in as safe a manner as possible.

I’m going to be away from home for a week; I’m traveling with my family (3 kids, my husband and my mom). It’s a bit hectic, but it’s been great.  Juggling my work with the travel and fun with the family reminds me that I wanted to mention a new group I’m hoping to talk with soon – the ManicMommies.

Manic Mommies was founded by Erin Kane and Kristin Brandt, two working moms who wanted to help other working mothers find great information and deal with the stress of juggling families, careers and personal lives. They’re planning a retreat, which they’re calling the Escape on November 9-11 in Newport, Rhode Island. They asked me to speak to one of their sessions, but I haven’t been able to work it into my schedule.

We’re working to get me on their podcast, though, so I’ll keep you up to date on that.

While I won’t be at the Escape in person, we’re sending some fun Angie’s List stuff and I hope to be with Erin and Kristin – one way another – very soon.