Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Sunshine at last, we seem to have had permanent rain lately, both inside and out! I am being driven to distraction by the constant leaks in my office and bug room roof. The design of the roof is dreadful and although my nephew is a roofer, even he is finding it difficult to come up with an 'affordable' solution. He came over yesterday with a work colleague, they are trying to find a way to build a new drainage gully without stripping off the entire roof. The roof has already been replaced but now the metal gully has started to rust away. I have had buckets everywhere this week but the rain always seems to find a new spot to pour in Agggh! I should receive a quote for the new outer door for my bug room today. It is desperately needed but again it is more money and I am also concerned how long it will take to fit and just how I am going to keep the bug room warm when the work is carried out. I will have to move the cages and shelving that are close to the door and then I'm ...

Out of time! I know it is the story of my life. I have so much to say and no time to say it. I have a lot of running around to do today and intended to write my blog (or at least start it) yesterday but I ended up babysitting and doing various tasks with my nephew's kids. My husband, son and daughter all set off before the crack of dawn this morning (daughter's 21st birthday present, a day of racing sports cars) so I have no help. The AES show was good, lots of familiar faces to catch up with. I spent quite a bit but was very proud of myself as I stuck to the shopping list and didn't buy any new 'leaf eating' bugs. The range of tarantulas at the show was quite disappointing but it was after all an 'insect' show. There were lots of set specimens, they look beautiful but I have no interest in dead bugs, they must be much easier to look after though! I bought some more beetle larvae but I think that has to be it now until the new year. My bug room is trul...

A week of highs and lows, some people love me and others are less than happy with me. Please note I am doing my best, I am just so busy with both work and my private life, I seem to be on a constant merry-go-round! There are lots of changes taking place and I'm not keen on change at all (I obviously cannot go into details in my blog). I have had some really nice people calling to collect orders and look around over the last couple of weeks, this is something that I would like to expand on. The weather can only get worse as winter approaches and it is great if people can collect their orders. Now that the bugs are indoors, I can make people far more welcome, we can sit and chat over a cup of tea. In the old bug house at the bottom of the garden, there was nowhere to sit and nowhere to make tea! Everything seems to be thriving in the bug room. I'm still trying to get the heating right, some areas are much warmer than others and the outer door is a pain. I'm not sure it c...

Well maybe not; last week I said it was time to slow down buying in stock before the winter but I keep being tempted by amazing bugs. This week I have bought in millipedes, more Chilean scorpions (I'm pretty sure many of these are pregnant), other scorpions (I do love scorpions) and I am still waiting for some beautiful Crab spiders (they are en route, should arrive at the beginning of next week). It has been a busy week for sales, many of the orders coming from schools and colleges. I have sold a real cross section of bugs, not just the usual tarantula sales. Next week sees the AES show so I am destined to get more stock but after that I will slow down! The baby snakes are still keeping me busy, most are now feeding well so that's great. The remaining few are looking very healthy so I am hopeful they will all survive and the good news is that I sold two this week. They went to a long time customer who I haven't seen in ages. He travelled up to my place and we had a ni...