THAT'S US ON THE LEFT

In our HOA-ed 'hood, you have to get permission to paint your house. They tell you what colors and what brand of paint you can use. They tell you to submit it to them, and in a day or two they'll get back to you with their decision.

We did. They didn't. We even received a letter telling us to be patient. We were.

The day the painters were to start, over three weeks after our request, we still hadn't heard. I was tempted to cancel the order, cancel the paint job and see just how long it would take for them to tire of looking at stucco sealer and cracks and prime.

Instead I told our painters to plan to begin work. They did, with the power wash. The next day's mail revealed an acceptance of our proposal. So on with the work.

What we found out. You can't fight city hall. We need to be patient, but not too patient to knock workers out of wages. You can't over react. You can't be mean. And baja white is really light yellow.

So if you come looking for us, our house has taken on a different hue. We like it, but not the hassle of HOA dealing. By the way, they also informed us that 4 of our palms need replacing because the look like they will soon die. I wonder what they'll want me to replace them with. I'm thinking of cell phone towers.