Winter 2013
I’m rethinking this title. This is about going through daily tasks, living nude in an urban environment. DF and I, like most, don’t just live out on the road. We maintain a couple of homes, one urban and one more rural. This is about making the wood to fuel the fireplace and the stealth naturism involved in daily nude living.
I have always enjoyed cutting wood naked. I do it with good protective shoes, sometimes light sandals for splitting. Sometimes I’ll take a chainsaw to wood barefoot all over, if I’m in the mood. It is good exercise. My dad, who won a wood splitting contest at age 65, showed me proper form. I think of him fondly often, while I split a log.
Christmas Eve, I took an electric chainsaw to DF’s pile of mesquite debris. It was a colder day. I put a sweat shirt on to work outside. I found that it helped minimize scratches while hugging the piles, which had been left in the driveway and needed to be moved into the yard’s wood pile.
There is a neighbor very close, to the north and there is visibility down the drive to the street where there is frequently a great deal of foot traffic.
So I moved my truck to access the wood and shield me from view. The fence gate also contributed to the arrangement, opened just so, so I could pass through it with the cover of my SUV.
It was not a cord, nor a ton, just a pile and fun, not much more than a casual hour or two. The work spot is looked over by a balcony of an apartment building and the branches of the usual tree cover are with less dense foliage in the winter, which requires our attention as we pass through the gap between the house and shed. The sweat shirt might have kept them guessing, or hid some detail, if anyone happened out and noticed. Eventually, I kept my back to them and the sound of the chainsaw blocked out the needed awareness of sound to detect those around me. If there was complaint, it would have to be from someone who was watching me in a backyard, through branches, while my main focus was obviously my wood cutting. They could be conceived as a voyeur, more than me being conceived of as a barely lawful exhibitionist. The odds of being seen, noticed and then complained about, I judged pretty nil.
Foliage is sparse for a couple of months in winter
The shorter fence to the north is protective enough due to angles of vision. I had concerns that the neighbor might get closer to the fence to view over, if she decided to wheel the community recycle bin to the street.
When I asked DF about taking the bin to the street to alleviate that possibility, I was informed that the neighbor had DF feeding the pet cat, while she was in Iowa visiting for Christmas. No reason to be concerned.
Figuring angles is important and effective. You can squat down and look at where another person’s head would be. Place a hand at your eyes. Leave the hand there, while you raise your head back up. Where the hand now sits on the body is what the other can see of your body. In this case, as we move away from the fence heading south, lower and lower parts of our bodies are visible.
Privacy from protective fence dissipates as we move away.
At the white shed, we would be exposed. A laser can also be utilized to determine angles. It is also good for figuring visual angles while carnuding.
So, I did my chainsaw fun and stacking on a chilly day in minimal protective gear, before our kids came over to do some Christmas celebration and walk through the Winterhaven Christmas light displays.
The positioning of the truck is critical when doing mundane tasks when nude outside of the fenced yard. I have to stop, look and listen before proceeding. I note the time of day and if the neighbor’s car is at home. I have to listen for anyone walking down at the street, but we have been able to branch out into the driveway parking area to do chores nude. This would be watering plants, bringing in wood, waxing my truck, or getting things out of vehicles like groceries or anything we need to transition from house to house. We arrive and depart nude, at times. Angles, awareness, knowledge of neighbor habits, foliage protection and knowing how to place visual obstacles all create free ranging nudity. Sometimes, I park my truck, or the car as a visual obstacle, creating an entire work area, in the parking area. I then listen if the close neighbor is at home and walking out her door.
The recyclable bin is around the corner of the fence. I simply walk with cover from the truck, front to back, avoiding the neighbor’s window and the street. The back of the truck is just a few feet from the bin. I carry the see-through mesh kitchen recycle basket to the big bin between my body and the street and the neighbor.
I open the lid up and dump, sometimes using the big bin to hide behind, when walking back a few feet.
My exposure to the street is mere seconds, after I have already listened and noted conditions. With planning and precautions, walkers that happen to look my way in those few seconds are unlikely. I have observed that most are looking forward to the street. Their sight is down, watching their step, as there is no sidewalk. There are two ruts in the walking area, now, which walkers must take care with. Most are with someone else and most often tend to be paying attention to socializing and each other. It is still a little rush and liberating to expand the boundaries just those few more exposed feet. Something about being nude where people generally are not is a bit of fun, sometimes. It can be a liberating game.
Mere Seconds
This may appear to be a lot of trouble to go through just for the ability to mind one’s own business, but it all becomes second nature. There is a certain degree of mindfulness and awareness, which I find desirable.
Further Activities
We have stretched the boundaries and I feel confident behind these barriers to also utilize the driveway area nude. The neighbor to the north has the potential of coming out of her door suddenly. We know her schedule, her habits, personality and having quick cover available. I’ll be aware of her before she is aware of me, if she even pays attention.
With all of this in mind, it becomes easier under the cover of darkness. Adding to the knowing of the neighborhood’s habits, we note which lights are on. There is the ability to listen better, as it is somewhat more calm at night. The sense of human sight at night changes for all parties. All of this makes urban nudity a tad easier.
Walking further down the drive has been left to late night warm summer evenings, when the trash needs to be taken out. Sometimes, DF has been down at the street already, but dressed, after she already took out the trash to the big dumpster on the street. Sometimes, I take a wrap-around and throw it over my shoulder on the way back from the dumpster, after I know that no one is around. A stroll in evening air is invigorating.
A couple of years ago, we braved a nude trash dump to the end of the drive and then about 100 ft. down the street to that dumpster, as a lark. It went like, “Hey, who gets to use the trash bags to cover up with?” and “Hey, the bags are gone in the dumpster with our cover!” That is risky. The house along that street has new parking in front, and twice, I have noted the neighbor watching his car, as he heard me walking on the gravel, not knowing who I was. Taking trash all the way to the big dumpster at night, so far, is something done for sport. It isn’t in the realm of a casual extension of boundary. Caution must be taken, or risky changes to reckless. Your own similar chore may be less of a challenge.
Uh oh! I just noticed the Christmas wrapping paper stick in the recycle can that I’m holding in the picture…okay…go ahead and make a funny.
Next week, a story up high in the mountains.
The Free Range Naturist 