Patting myself on the back

Patting myself on the back for having such a great idea! The 'make me an offer' promotion has gone better than I could ever have imagined. This week has been very busy but good fun. People have been making all sorts of offers, many have been accepted straight off but others have been too low and I have therefore given the best discount that I can. I clearly cannot sell things for less than I paid, I am cutting back for my summer holiday, not having a closing down sale! Lots of people have apologised for making a low offer, there is no need to apologise at all, it is fine to offer whatever you like. I was worried that someone else may jump in and grab the offer and this has happened but rather than being a problem it is creating a lot more interest in my website. The offers are mainly set up for one day so whoever gets in first will bag the bargain. I haven't experienced anyone being upset by this and in general I often find that when someone asks for discount there is a high chance they won't buy the item anyway. I have had such a surge in sales that I can only assume word has got out on the forums, it's all good for me.

I really have cleared a lot of stock and the bug room is looking better for it. There have however been a few problems this week. Last Saturday we had a terrible storm with thunder and lightning. I didn't realise until after the storm had passed, that the gutter in the roof of my bug room had blocked up and water had leaked all over the place. The floor was awash and several shelves needed to be wiped down. Nothing too serious but it was a pain and a bit worrying to see water dripping from the light fittings! Then on Monday (I don't know if it was related to the storm) we had a major power cut. It lasted all afternoon and evening, leaving me will nothing to do as everything is electric. No computer, no phones, no lights, even my mobile packed up, I assume the local Vodafone mast needed power. On Tuesday and Wednesday the power was back on but my iPhone still wasn't working properly. I had several conversations with a call centre abroad, the guys were very polite but utterly useless. They kept saying the network in my area was good, really? It finally started working again yesterday.

I saw my first Stag beetle of the year on Tuesday. A neighbour gave her to me as a present and I was delighted. I put the beetle on a tea plate and fed her whilst watching telly. My daughter looked over at me from the other side of the sofa and said "you are strange you know", I just ignored her (she left at 5am yesterday to drive to France to watch the 24 hour Le Mans race, now that's weird to me). When the light began to fade I put the beautiful beetle back in my neighbours garden so that she could meet a mate and keep this amazing species going. They are by far my favourite British bug and always have been. My mum and I loved looking for them in May and June each year. When I was young there were many more Stag beetles around

I have got to be quick with this blog as I am picking up my sister soon, we are going to Tiggywinkles wildlife centre. We are both members and it's a nice place to go and visit. Thankfully the Blue Tit family in our camera nesting box had no problems this year and all flew away last week. It is great to watch them on my computer monitor but not so great when things go wrong. It is good to have Tiggywinkles only half an hour away from here so I can always run any struggling wildlife up to them, as I have done with abandoned Blue Tit chicks before.

Everything seems to be geared towards our holiday at the moment but when we return I must revamp my website a little. There are several things that seriously need attention. We need to bring the banner up to date as it features a praying mantis and I haven't sold mantids for some time now. I receive many enquiries about mantids and I can't really moan about it as there is a photo of one on the front page of my site (actually I do moan because it is one of the questions answered on my FAQ page). I haven't yet had time to ring my web guy for advice about changing the site a little. It looks like that will be a job for next week as it is Friday already. This week seems to have flown by. We will be on a walk with the Eurasier society tomorrow, with Teddi our beautiful Eurasier dog and then my nephew's children are coming for a sleepover. On Sunday we are going to the Peregrine open day in Essex. They supply live foods, reptiles and lots of bug equipment. They have been going for nearly as long as me. I have never been to their premises so it will be really interesting to see how they do things. I may learn some tips, I'm sure it will be an enjoyable day.

I'm hoping for a rain free weekend but it doesn't look likely. Roll on Mexico, two and a half weeks to go and counting! And yes, hubby returned from his motorbike trip last Friday, in one piece. I did have a few other things to say but they will have to wait until next week (must tell you about the half male/half female Jungle Nymph stick insect that I am rearing).