Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Running out of time, this will have to be a short blog entry and I have so much to say! We were completely snowed in for a few days, the hills to reach our village were treacherous so the only day that I managed to send off any orders was yesterday. I am therefore very behind and having my nephew's children on a Thursday afternoon and the tarantula show coming up this weekend has not helped the situation. My husband had a couple of days off this week and has been powering on in the workshop, in preparation for moving the bugs. The kitchen fitter came out and moved the washing machine from the workshop yesterday afternoon. It wasn't the best time with the kids here, we were trapped in the living room as the kitchen/dining room were covered in tools for all the re-plumbing work. This morning I have a guy coming over to bring me his collection of tarantulas. He is moving house and cannot take them with him. It is sad to hear how many people seem to be giving up their collecti...

It is snowing! Big fluffy balls of snow are falling fast and furious outside the window of my office. Oh, how I hate the cold - snow may be pretty but it is damn cold. Luckily it is Friday so I don't have any parcels to get off, hopefully the weather will have improved by Monday. I am not feeling at all happy today anyway. Yesterday I lost my beloved pussy cat Bimbo. I took her to the vets at 7.30am to have diabetes tests carried out but the vet called me an hour later and told me there were complications. I returned to the vets immediately and made the heart breaking decision to let her go. I thought she was coming up for 17 years old but the vet records showed that she would have been 18 tomorrow. My office is a quieter place this morning, her bed was under my desk (complete with reptile heat mat of course). She was the most vocal cat I have ever had and Teddi (our dog) is looking everywhere for her (and her food bowls, which Teddi always finished off when I wasn't looki...

Operation 'bugs on the move' is in full swing. Having made the decision to relocate the bugs from their log cabin at the bottom of the garden into the workshop next to my office, I cannot wait to get started! We have the guy who fitted our kitchen coming over this evening to discuss moving the appliances that are currently in the workshop. My husband has Sunday and Monday off work so we will be clearing out our spare bedroom to house all the tools and equipment that are in the workshop. Once the workshop is clear we (hubby) can begin making cupboards around the boiler, alarm system etc. and then decorate and seal the entire room. 'Seal' being the main thing, bugs love to climb into anything electrical. I will endeavour to clean all the cages thoroughly before putting them in the room. I am hoping not to move all the small spiders (that come in on the stick insects bramble), escaped cockroaches and fruit flies, that currently drive me crazy in my bug house. Now that I ...

Happy New Year. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I don't think I have ever had a more sociable Christmas and New Year, we were out and about all over the place. I didn't even have time to do my Christmas jigsaw! On New Year's Eve I went up to the London Palladium to see Scrooge, it was a great show and Tommy Steel was amazing (he's 76). I really enjoyed doing Auld Lang Syne in the theatre after the show. Anyway back to work - it was great to have a break and take stock. I have had a brainstorm, how does the saying go? Adapt or Die? Anyway I need to face changes even though I hate them. We have decided to move the bugs into the house and my hubby will have the log cabin at the bottom of the garden as his workshop. Currently his workshop is the room next to my office, it is considerably smaller than my current bug house but it will have huge benefits. The main one being our electricity bill! The bug house costs a fortune to heat, especially during the winter an...