On Being the Naughty Neighbors

So a little bit ago we started to think about a stamped concrete patio for under the deck (or the area of our yard I like to call "the mud pit"). We hemmed and hawed a bit, and then got a lovely little windfall of cash, which prompted us to get an estimate and sign a contract.

Upon signing the contract, I put together the little HOA packet of begging for permission to modify my house, raise its property value, make it look nicer, etc. (You know, do something that any responsible homeowner does - improve their property.) I sent it off in the mail and, about two weeks later got a request for more information because, owing to our fence, they were unable to see where the patio was going to be to make a decision.

That, as you might imagine, made me laugh. Because if they can't see where it would go in order to decide that it's ok to go there, then really, what does it matter? No one else will be able to see it either! But anyway, I snapped some photos of the mud and made a scale drawing on the plat (vs. a scale drawing on the grid paper they provide to you as part of the application) and sent it off as an addendum. I've yet to hear anything back from the HOA.

Weather permitting, the concrete people want to start tomorrow.

Here's where I begin to wonder if getting forgiveness isn't going to be easier than securing permission.

I'm hoping that perhaps the postman will bring me a letter from our dear old HOA this afternoon and then I will be able to breathe a little rule-follower's sigh of relief. But if they don't? I'm still gonna let them start tomorrow. There is no reasonable reason for them to deny the application. And as they've pointed out, they're never going to know whether it's there or not.

Living on the edge around here, living on the edge.