How Private Are You?

When I was younger my dh and I would drive around at night just to see what other people were doing. It was pretty hilarious. Most people lead pretty boring lives! We never saw anything interesting. The worst thing was how many people were sitting there staring at their tv set. America, get a life.

donsgal
who has since moved on to better hobbies.

__________________
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

We chose the place we live because we couldn't see neighbors.
Enough said except that, again, I really like "The Shepherdess" avatar.
Viva Bouguereau!

__________________
Montani semper liberi


The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved. — this message approved by Congressman Ron Paul

Don't have any curtains or blinds, shoot couldnt even tell you if we have a house key . we live at the end of a half mile drive way . If some one drives past moms house 1/4 mile down the drive our phone is ringing. there more than 150 yards of heavy timber between us and the blacktop as the crow flys.
In the summer my little ones play in the yard (sprinkler wading pool in their undies)
Nothing exciting to see through our windows , we are married with children

I very seldom shut the blinds. We live on a road that is not traveled much. We are also not real close to the road. I am sure someone could see us walking around if they looked, but I really don't care.

__________________
I can't believe I deleted it!

Odd to read what everyone says and see that some have very strong opinions about what people do - when it's different from them. If someone leaves their blinds/curtains open, they think people who close them are weird... and vice versa. And some who look in thru the open windows have strong opinions about what the people in their own houses are doing! ROFL.

Anyway, like BasicLiving said - this one really made me stop and think. When we lived in the city, privacy was a huge issue because all the houses sat so close together you could literally see into other people's houses at night if they didn't keep their blinds or curtains closed. And there were a few questionables who'd be strolling down the street at night. So once the inside lights came on, the blinds/drapes were shut.

Once we moved to the country, our blinds and skylights are open (except in the heat of the summer months). We like to see out and the house sits in the middle of the original 40 acres. The house cannot be seen from the road and our property is bordered with heavy forrest. Could a person with bad intentions see in? Sure. However I suspect not only the dog would alert us, but between us, we'd have a "security detail" ready real fast, neighbors included. Good thing to have - friendly neighbors who watch out for each other!

Great way to ensure privacy...pile a few junkers on blocks around your house.

Disclaimer: This is NOT a photograph of anyone's place on HT. This is some impressionistic artwork from MOB (the Mind Of Boleyz) Although it is artwork so detailed as to be mistaken for photography, it is not a photo. I have not been to your house and spied on you and taken this picture.

__________________
"The most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being." - Sir Isaac Newton
(A REAL scientist)

Baleyes lies again!
THose are the junkers on my my neighbors lawn and I'd recognize them anywhere...
You folks better watch it, because Baleyes will take your pic if you don't close your blinds!

__________________
Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

Wow, I never thought of that before but it makes a lot of sense.

I'll have to try leaving the curtains open on a full moon night and see if it makes a difference. Of course, Im only thinking of doing that with windows that don't face the road.

__________________
Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

Yeah sure Boleyz I know you were drawing my yard
Oh the tires are being saved to build a retaining wall and notice there are only two cars left I hauled off the other already. Look a little further into the yard for the lawn mower grave yard its a tribute to edward scissorhands
Love your detailed pics

When I lived in the city, the blinds were slammed shut at dusk..
When I moved to the "burb's" it would never have occured to me to pull the drapes closed in the living room..there were "sheers" on the windows. In the evening, I'd just put the shades down in the bedrooms.

When I moved to the country, I didn't have any curtains at all in the front of the house..If a person wanted to jump the fence, and crawl through a bunch of thorn bushes..cross 4 acres and risk getting whacked by my dogs and meeting up with the wrong end of a 12 gauge..they'd be welcome to look in the windows all they wanted.

I live close to the road, pull my blinds at night. guess i do have something to hide--but not sure at my age, anyones interested in seeing it. wish we lived at the back side of our farm, and had a big gate barring entrance, tired of the "we were just going by, and decided to stop". think to myself we should go back to the days when a card was send asking what would be a good day to call. my drapes/shades are pulled too, cause we're private people---just noone asks!

__________________
In Life, We Weep at the thought of Death'
Who Knows, Perhaps in Death,
We Weep at the though of Life.

Blinds are open during the winter on the south side, but they are closed on all sides in the summer, 'cause I like to run around in my birthday suit!

I like it when you can go outside without worrying about being seen because there is no one there!

Howdy...we live way off the road surrounded by woods so no curtains on front windows...i like being private but it can also be a bad thing..every storm that hits...tornados and such or a prison break i think wow would anyone find us back here if something should happen?.....not for days or weeks i wouldnt think....so dogs are my main source of security as well as being well armed...privacy is good...but can also be dangerous!....dale anne

__________________
dale anne

I had a girlfriend once and on warm summer nights we would go for walks around the neighborhood after dark. One time we went for a walk and had a couple of her brothers and sisters join us. It was a very pleasant evening and while we were walking we talked and enjoyed each others company.
After a little while one of her brothers stopped and said "look at that". From the road he was looking into the window of a house and there was a naked man in the house. I said So What, Let's Go. But everyone else insisted upon staying there and watching the naked man through his house window. Even my girlfriend.
I never did understand the preoccupation with peering into someone's home and watching the naked man who lived there. And she's no longer my girlfriend.

when we lived in NYC (Manhattan) we never closed the drapes. No need to. No one there ever really does, nor do they care to look either. That was really an eye opener for me (pun intended).

Now, I don't give a hoot who looks in at me as I live my life. Why? because my life is an open book. I'm not doing anything illegal or immoral, so why be worried about other people's opinion of what I do?

For that matter, I don't particularly understand the type of person that would WANT to look into my life as if it were some huge state secret.

Being out in the country does not necessarily mean being a cloistered, paranoid, private person. I moved here to enjoy nature. Man happens to be part of that nature. It's just that there are not as many of us out in the boonies.

Curtains wide open and nothing to hide here. NO idea why folks need curtains unless it is for looks, decoration or warmth/keeping sun out/etc.

Sign me,

nothing to hide and proud of it.

This is an interesting thread...

We live right smack dab in the middle of a very small town. We know our neighbors and are comfortable with them, though we don't socialize with them a lot. When we moved in, our front yard was grass with one tree and looked right into our neighbor's back yard and the main street a half block over. We landscaped for privacy - who wants to watch what your neighbors are doing after all??? Now I have a lovely view out my front window of junipers, pines and birches, I leave the shades open during the day (not to mention WAY too many houseplants!

The back of the property is pretty open, I have a nice view and a couple of shade trees. There isn't anyone living there, its a vacant lot belonging to my neighbors and borders on some city property, then the back of a large school yard (where my husband teaches, terribly commute!) I enjoy the views on those two sides of the house. The south end consists of a utility room, the kitchen and the study. The large kitchen window looks at our garage, I don't bother to shut those blinds unless its really cold.

The bedrooms on the north end of the house are usually pretty closed up, no one is watching the views there and let's keep it dark, temperature controlled and private, thank you!

I guess I am relatively private, but more concerned about what I get to see looking OUT than who is looking IN. Shades are used more for the control of light and temperature than for privacy, except in bedrooms.

__________________
~ Carol

Since I live on the ground floor of a busy spot, my blinds stay closed! I don't like people seeing me and I don't care to see them either. Once I have my own property, I'll landscape it so I won't have to worry about it or else (hopefully) it'll be a big enough parcel with enough setback so that I won't need to worry about it. I also don't answer my phone or the door. Despite not being able to open my blinds I kinda like the place I'm in now since my door doesn't have a number on it. Good luck finding it less I give directions!

DW and I are pretty private. No close neighbors. We post our property and expect people to respect that. If we want to skinny dip or have some fun (wouldn't be visible except to someone in an aircraft or a trespasser) we don't expect to see random people wandering around our property.

Except for a few folks we have given permission to come on our place (some neighbors and a few friends) we expect anyone else to come up the front drive "hallooing the house" and we expect them to have a pretty good explanation as to why those highly visible "No Trespassing" signs don't apply to them.

We're pretty rural, but I still like to keep the curtains pulled and blinds closed after dark. I am a very private person and although I have nothing to hide, I don't like nosey people. On two occasions I've had people walk completely around the house peering into every window to see if anyone was home. Also hate it when I go to answer front door and see the person on the other side with their face to the window and hands cupped so they can see inside.

We have also learned to lock doors if we are out of sight of the house after discovering relatives snooping through closets and drawers because they thought no one was home.

Maggie