I do understand where you are coming from in regards to you owning your home... however, we have an HOA for the people out there who are not reasonable. There are people who would jump at the oppurtunity to paint their house neon pink with polk-a-dots if they could, leave their yards full of weeds and do ridiculous things to their homes. Yes it is frustrating to those who have reasonable requests but it is to protect those of us from the unreasonable. I think that one of the pp hit the nail on the head... if there is something we're all missing here that is being ridiculous than the HOA should be approached about it. Joe has been great about setting up meetings for this exact purpose and has managed to improve our community as a result.