Another busy week, no complaints here (that makes a change for me). Things are really moving and certainly in the right direction. I have sent out lots of orders and had no problems reported, even though the weather has turned much colder. The only thing that really stops me posting out orders is snow. Our village is perched on the top of a hill and when it snows everything grinds to a halt. I could probably get down to the post office but I would not get back up the hill again!
All the bugs seem to be doing well. It is my first winter in the new bug room, I have moved a few things around but mostly I think everything is warm enough. I hope the new outer door will be fitted at the end of next week. The current door is wooden and seems to be permanently wet as the temperature is so much lower outside than inside. The new door will be metal (steel or aluminium?), anyway it will be much easier to wipe down and it will be double glazed. I had thought of just blocking up the doorway for the winter but I actually seem to have a fair few customers call now and I really don't want to go back to leading people through the house. It is so much easier to have a door that opens straight into the bug room. I certainly don't miss being in the log cabin at the bottom of the garden. Leading people down there was a nightmare. It was like an obstacle course, through the house, past our excitable dog, over the very slippery decking (several people has gone sprawling on our decking), over the bridge (small bridge, over our fish pond) and then down the winding path, watching out for the steps. Honestly it was difficult in the light but impossible in the dark (even with an outside light on). I really love my new bug room, it would be great if it was a bit bigger but nothing is perfect.
Christmas is certainly fast approaching. I cannot believe that so many people I know have already purchased most of their presents. I haven't even started but I intend to get into the spirit of things this weekend. I am going out shopping with my sister tomorrow and then Sunday I will be sorting out what I need and writing Christmas cards (well that's the plan). I have worked out my last posting day which will be Thursday 19th December (Monday 16th for any orders outside the UK). That is if the weather is ok! Last year the weather was so bad approaching Christmas that I gave up and stopped sending parcels a week earlier. It is definitely best to buy your bugs early, obviously the weather may get worse and secondly I will start to sell out. I certainly won't be restocking anything now until the new year.
Unbelievably I am continuing to have intermittent problems with my Vodafone signal when at home. I cannot get anywhere on the telephone and the local Vodafone store is no help at all. It seems that I need a booster box but it is expensive so I will explore all other avenues first. Gleaning information from various sources it seems that lots of mobile phone companies have amalgamated their masts and closed down some smaller masts. I think this has resulted in us losing our signal strength earlier this year. I am continually told by Vodafone that there is a problem and they are working on it but then they say the fault is fixed but we find no improvement here. It is very frustrating and I still have over a year of my contract to run so what can I do? It isn't just calls, some texts are not being sent or received either. It works ok at times though, like when someone rang me at 1am on Sunday morning!
My hubby did manage to put a photo on last week's blog, showing my part female/part male Jungle Nymph stick insect. It really is a weird looking creature, I do hope it survives the next moult. I will obviously keep everyone updated.
The saga of the Corn snakes is almost over. I have been successfully force feeding the baby snakes every other day but I have decided to pass them on to someone with more experience than me. He is calling to collect them on Sunday. I still have the four perfect babies that are thriving but I just couldn't bear the thought of the 'magnificent 7' (as they have been named) dying on me. In future I will stick to breeding bugs only!
I have had some very nice emails lately, I had one only yesterday saying that he would give me ten out of ten for my packing, you really can't do better than that. I especially appreciate the customers who take the time to write a review on my website. Positive reviews are an asset to all online businesses. I did have a rather odd review appear this week, it rated the product as one and said "That is a lot for a red knee £150 some of your prices are to much sorry". Needless to say it has not appeared on my site, to review a product you would need to buy it. However I do agree with the sentiment. I have pointed out before that I sometimes put items on the site at a very high value because I simply don't want to sell them. As a business I feel I need to enter everything on the website but this most magnificent, Mexican Red Knee spider is an absolute favourite and I certainly don't want to part with her. So if you see something grossly overpriced on my website you will now know why!
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