GEOFFREY MICHEL

Be careful what you wish for My mom has been asking for a pool for a long time. Finally, my dad complied and bought her a pool. Well, for insurance reasons, we needed a fence in our yard. Of course, my dad decided that we should put it in ourselves. This is where the story starts. Friday at around 1 p.m., we started working on the fence. I thought we could get the whole yard done in that day, but we spent about four hours on one side of the fence. On Saturday, I listened to the NFL Draft as I filled holes in the yard with dirt from the pool. As I was in the process of shoveling dirt, I listened as the New Orleans Saints selected Deuce McCallister. The fence was still not finished. On Sunday, my dad started on the fence while I took a nap. At 5 p.m., after my nap, my dad and I had one little section left to finish. After positioning the fence and gate various ways, we finally decided on a look Then we spent an additional hour on the gate because we messed up. The reason I wrote this article was to tell you to have patience. My dad didn’t give up on the fence and the gates even though I wanted to just quit. It took three days to put up the fence, but it is worth it now. Next weekend he said that we’ll start on the deck. If you have any questions or comments, write to me at P.O. Box 1493, LaPlace, LA 70069. GEOFFREY MICHEL, a local teen-ager, writes this column regularly for L’Observateur.