Here I am, walking on the high wire. No net below. My big mouth got me up here, and here I’ll stay for 30 days.

Unless, I fall.

Or someone pushes me off.

What, pray tell, am I attempting to do with my life? Live it. Simply live it. Or, more succinctly, “live it simply” for 30 days and present “highlights” that may or may not be the real high points of a day, but are those that inspire. Inspire me to open myself to moods, emotions, fears, and even a little “madness.”

I got the idea from a “mystic” who has practiced in India. Her blogging “handle” is  mittaipink, which I take to mean living life to the fullest (All right, I made up the part that she’s a mystic; tried to get away with a little “poetic license” but you caught it. You can find out more by seeing her post Today I Released A Little Something…, which gave me the idea to focus on the little things in life for mindfulness meditation.

Wrote about my in-laws on Dec. 27, 2009 (what a year, huh?).  Got seven posts under my belt since, all, I hope dealing with minor details in my life, like listening to trash trucks, drinking hot coffee, watching a mouse, avoiding a sombitch rooster (wait a minute, how did he get in there?).

So, now I am almost one-quarter of the way through. I am committed to give a glimpse of my life in 500 words or less for a total of 30 days.

— Locked within, a Klutz makes good his escape —

Got “locked” in the shed my son and a contractor finished off the other day. The string that pulls a latch to open the door broke. I was stuck in the chicken coop, [slash] rabbit hutch, [slash] shed with the door closed. Locked behind me. No chickens or rabbit to keep me company. Not even the dumb rooster or the chick of  a yet-to-be-determined gender. (We think it will be a rooster. Just what my neighbors here in Conshohocken, PA, need.  Another sombitch junior to wake them for their morning trip to work in Philadelphia.)

“Nick,” I shouted for my son. Good luck, I thought, just as I yelled. He’s inside the house.  High temperature today is a balmy 29 degrees. His mama didn’t raise no dummy. He’s staying warm inside.

At least I got the heater working here. Had one of those industrial types put in to keep the hens warm so that we could get eggs. Somebody told me they would only lay if it was warm. We warmed the shed the past three days now. But so far, no eggs. Maybe they’re too shy to give us eggs while the rabbit is watching?

We placed a heavy-duty plastic “step-stool” in one corner. The bunny crawls beneath and sits in a small plastic litter box filled with Timothy hay which he eats and uses as a cushion. Got a water bowl and another bowl with crunchy food toward the front. He can look out and have a full view of the interior of the 8-by-10-foot wooden shed while eating, drinking and sleeping. Got two windows in the insulated structure. A Small one facing west, and a “sky-light” on the roof. My contractor designed the shed with the skylight in mind. He had four of them. Was “paid”  them in lieu of cash when someone could not afford to give him money for a job he did. We got it at reduced rates.

Well, I guess this shed-dweller better do what the other animals do when they want to get out doors. Crawl through the “trap door.” My son insisted on having a 18-by-18-inch square door installed on the south side of the shed. Hinges allow the door to swing up with a latch to hold the door in place. The animals can go in and out at their heart’s content. Could be a tight squeeze, however  for an adult who may need to diet. Let’s just hope no one “locked” the trap.

“Ah,” I sigh as I push open the wooden panel. Freedom. Now, if I can just crawl out of here with no one seeing me or ever finding out how I got myself into such a predicament. Better keep this to my Self, and not tell anyone of my brilliant mis-adventure.