Virginia Cheeseman - Latest News Blog
I regularly post to my news blog when the number of readers hits a certain target and I get the time to do so :) I have been writing my blog for many years now and some of my posts have been read over 3,000 times! Feel free to check back every now and again to see what's happening at VirginiaCheeseman.co.uk
Did you miss me?
Well, I know for a fact that some of you did as I’ve had plenty of messages telling me so and it’s very nice to know that you care J The blog actually takes some time to write and I like to get it checked over by a family member as I would hate to offend anyone, it is quite an undertaking to write it weekly but I will give it my best shot. I still think it is rather self-indulgent and even I think I moan way too much but it certainly gives an insight into my life with the bugs (plus a bit of everything else in my life too) and people seem to like it.
Friday 13th, never a good omen
Friday 13th, never a good omen. I intended to write a ‘proper’ blog this week but as I am going away next week, I have just run out of time. I never run out of things to say but I frequently run out of time to say them J I’ve had a busy week dashing around both for family and also drumming up business for my Ginny’s Jungle animal encounters. I visited a care home this week to discuss taking the bugs along to visit the residents. I’m pleased to say the entertainment’s lady was lovely and really helpful too. She is going to book me shortly (I forgot to take my diary!).
Life is good
Life is good, hectic but good. The bugs are doing really well and slowly but surely my plans are coming together. I need to cut down on some of my stock to make more time for Ginny’s Jungle. I have been conscious of what sells and what doesn’t for some time now and also what sells but doesn’t make me any profit but takes up precious time! A good friend rang me excitedly last weekend and told me that he had some Giant African snails for me. I had to explain to him that snails cost far too much to feed and that they are perhaps the only bug that costs me more to keep than I ever make on them. I have my humongous snails Bill and Ben and now they have a few babies that is lovely and I certainly wouldn’t want to take on any more than that.
Sorry no blog this week
Sorry no blog this week, time has run away with me. I was out all day yesterday and I have a Ginny's Jungle event to prepare for today but my blog will return next week. All is going well, lots of bugs and spiders breeding and this beautiful Silkmoth hatched from it's cocoon only last night, just in time to be displayed at the event today!
Another busy week, has been and gone
Another busy week, has been and gone. My hubby gets back from his ten-day motorbike trip today. I’m pleased to report that nothing has gone terribly wrong in his absence, no power cuts, no problems with the internet, no problems with the website. Well, no problems that couldn’t be solved without him anyway. There certainly was a problem with my website last week and nobody told me that it was down until it had been off for several days! I thought it was odd that nobody had placed an order and that nobody had read my blog (I have a number counter on it, I can’t see who has read it but I can see how many people have). Then Friday afternoon I had an email from a regular customer in Finland saying “Is your website going to be functional soon?”. I immediately called my website guy and he realised that the site was switched off. We are both logged in as ‘admin’ so the site was visible to both of us but sadly not visible to anyone else. It took only seconds to rectify the problem.
Loads to say!
Loads to say! There seems to be plenty going on in my life at the moment, both inside the bug room and outside in my ‘other life’. It’s not fair that none of my family share my enthusiasm, I know loads of couples who both love bugs. Mind you I don’t share my hubby’s interests either! As I write this he is whizzing around the mountains in Spain and Portugal on his motorbike as he does every year with his friends. Sounds like torture to me. My neighbour has organised a charity event for next week in aid of Rennie Grove cancer care. I had volunteered to take my snakes and bugs along and charge everyone £1.00 to hold them but my friend’s husband gently pointed out that most women don’t like snakes and that I might frighten people away. I thought it was a great idea but at least now I can just enjoy the day and perhaps help with the washing up etc.
No blog this week
No blog this week. Sorry but I was at a family funeral yesterday and I’m up in London all day tomorrow and back up to London Sunday evening too. I just have to get the animals sorted out today and there really isn’t enough time to do anything else! My blog will be back next week and hopefully I will have time to write all the things that I was going to say this week and I dare say a few extra bits too. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
This year is disappearing fast
This year is disappearing fast, I’m sure the years are speeding up as I get older. Perhaps it is just that we don’t seem to have had hardly any sunny days this year. The storms all week have been amazing. The huge claps of thunder and the blue flashes of zig zagging lightening have been more like tropical storms than the weather we generally have in England. The garden is looking good, it does resemble a jungle but I like it that way and so does the wildlife. I am just so grateful to our roofing guy who came to repoint our roof recently and ended up, dare I say it “fixing” my office/bug room roof. It is 15 years this month since we moved to this house, 15 years of flooding in my bug room. Can it really be properly fixed this time? Many people have tried and failed (the roof design is awful). I am so confident that I have dared to stock the shelves with my precious bugs on that side of the room for the first time ever!
Bugs, bugs everywhere!
Bugs, bugs everywhere! The BTS (British Tarantula Society) annual exhibition last weekend was great fun, lots to see, lots to buy and lots of people to meet. I went bonkers again and bought a huge number of spiders, scorpions, millipedes, beetles, assassin bugs, caterpillars – yes way too much of everything. All I need to do now is sell some animals to make some room, I have really focussed on getting the new stock housed, fed, labelled, entered onto my stock lists and last but not least the website. If it’s not on the website, it won’t be going anywhere. I found this out the week before last. I was wondering why my beautiful Giant Lime Green stick insects (Diapherodes gigantica) weren’t selling and then found to my annoyance that I had never uploaded them to the site!