I was rudely awakened this morning to a frantic knocking at the front door. I grabbed my bathrobe and met the local police officer on my front porch.

When I opened the front door, I was greeted by my two pups, Hubcap (a 50 pound, year old black & tan hound) and Ebony (a 40 pound year old black lab). The pups knew that they were in trouble when they saw the disappointed look on my face. Their excited gait slowed and their tails dropped to the floor.

They had once again dug out of the back yard to romp with the neighbor's dogs through the neighborhood. This time, though, their romp ended up in the neighbor's yard with another neighbor's freshly killed white goose in tow.

Now I have two kinds of fence mending to do... with the neighbor who owns the goose and in my own back yard. The physical fence is easier to repair, but it must be done first before the other fence can be repaired.

You know... that's like life in general. When there's a problem, you have to mend your own fence before you can mend the difference between you and your neighbor. If you don't take care of your own problems first, the neighbor has no faith that you can live up to your promises to him.

The author operates a catfish guide service on Oklahoma's Robert S Kerr Lake and can be contacted through http://www.okcharters.com. He also owns and maintains http://www.bigboyztoystore and http://www.precisioncaster.net.