Have I Told You I Hate Cleaning House?

My funny black and white cartoon of Bryan finding his trash can he lost. Drawn by artist Bryan Skinnell.

House cleaning ain’t my thing.

I dare say that it probably isn’t your thing either. But then again… maybe it is?! If that’s the case, I won’t hold it against you, you adorable weirdo. I don’t mind cleaning house but I’d just as soon preoccupy myself with something a bit more enjoyable. Like having my teeth pulled with rusty pliers. By a surly dentist. With beer breath. And recovering from a hangover. I hope he makes house calls.

If he does I’ll put that ornery bastard to work cleaning this dump of mine if he promises to only puke outside. Dentists are great for the job as they have the stomach for it since they see plenty worse in their line of work. I’m a weenie artist and can’t bear it myself but one can’t be too picky. Anybody willing to clean my crib I’d sure let ’em at this point even if it’s the neighborhood burglar! If they can be so kind as to help me out they can help themselves to the TV as a token of my gratitude. I can’t watch it anyway because the remote control is broken.

Since I can’t catch the latest soaps I’ll occupy myself cranking out this blog post to get out of house work. It’s been a week or better since I last wrote one and readers might worry I got buried under an avalanche in here. No fears, I am perfectly ok.

That’s the nice thing about living in the twenty-first century as you have so many ways of keeping in contact with loved ones and even those who hate you. Should I ever perish under an avalanche of junk in my home the miracles of social media and the internet will instantly notify everyone and keep the entire world abreast of this stunning turn of events. A few will surely cry upon hearing of this tragedy but it’ll be divvies on my art and my car as far as everyone else is concerned. So let it be known that I bequeath my art to anyone who wants it but my car is already claimed. There’s a family of feisty chipmunks living under the seat of my car and they probably won’t give it up without a fight!

Why hello there! My name is Bryan Skinnell and I am a middle-aged (50-ish) artist and neighborhood kook who is living the artistic and creative life out in the boonies of Bedford, Virginia. Bedford is one of the largest counties in the commonwealth of Virginia and, for the most part, it’s still a mostly rural one that bridges the gap between Roanoke and Lynchburg. You could say, in more ways than one, that Bedford is the heart of Virginia. I can’t argue with that although I usually think of Bedford more as Virginia’s belly button myself.

I grew up right here in Bedford and have lived and toiled most of my life on our infamous red clay. The sort of clay that makes the stickiest mud known to man after a rain and which clings like super glue from God to anything and everything it touches. If you are so foolish as to get it on yourself you’ll wind up tracking and leaving a trail of red goop everywhere you go for days afterwards to the delight of your family and friends. But I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else and Lord knows I tried as I’ve wandered from one end of the country to the other. But Bedford has my heart and that’s where I’ve chosen to live my life today. In my free time when I’m not stuck in my studio making art I do love being outside gardening or hiking or just pestering the neighbors.

Every day I try to write something that’s original, entertaining, and half-way thoughtful here on my blog while sharing my happy-go-lucky attitude and zest for life. Quite often I don’t have the foggiest notion of what I’ll end up saying in a post. But, whatever I end up writing about, I do hope you enjoy it!

I do keep a mailing list for interested readers and fans. If you would like to get in on the action and follow my musings and rabble-babble, that can be easily arranged. Just give me an email address that you would like for me to send my blog posts to and I’ll see that you get it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Bryan Skinnell

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