I got my copy of the CC&R document for the neighborhood I’ll be moving into. I have mixed feelings on the whole thing. On the one hand, as a homeowner I’d like to be able to do whatever I want to my own house. On the other, there’s no accounting for taste, so I’m glad there’s at least some sort of checks and balances going on.

I wish there was an English version of the thing, though. It’s all written in Legal, which is difficult to understand at best. I get the basic gist of it, but the particulars are a little more difficult. Do you have to ask before you plant stuff? It sure looks like it. I suppose it depends on whether it’s in good taste or not. And who defines good taste? The “committee” (which is like something out of a James Bond movie… sort of ominous sounding… some nebulous entity that may or may not truly exist, and if it does exist, it may not be for the forces of good…).

I can live with it. I wasn’t about to put up a pole barn in my front yard anyway.