This amazing website has transformed the way I work

This amazing website has transformed the way I work. The website went live at the end of last September and I have never been so busy in my life. It is so much easier for customers to order online and not have to ring up with card details and check what is and isn't in stock. It is easier for everyone, I just wish I had done it several years earlier! This time of year is always busy but certainly this May is outstanding for sales. I am struggling to cope but everyone is being patient, especially my family. I have precious little time for anything other than work at the moment. Sales are going so well that I have the money in hand to buy new stock. Next week I have a lot of animals coming in, they will be mostly spiders and almost all are captive bred.

I now have a number of captive bred true spiders and I am hoping to get some Wolf spiders and Orb Web (Nephila) next week. It is hard work and time consuming looking after all the tiny little ones, they are generally very fast and often difficult to see but it is fascinating to watch them grow. Nephila spiders are beautiful but when they come in as adults from the wild they generally perish very quickly, I don't think they appreciate being removed from their webs. I once had an amazing Nephila spider, with a huge web spread across my conservatory. It was relaxing watching her going about her business in her web (my husband didn't agree, he perched on the sofa so that he could get away quickly if she came near him). Once their web is constructed I don't think the spider really moves from it, I used to drop flies on her web and she would dash across to wrap them up in silk.

With all the live stock that I have at the moment I need to cut down on some of my paper work, especially emails. I do wish I could persuade people to ring when they are asking more complicated questions, it is much easier to answer on the phone. I have pretty much given up on my 'cut & paste' notes, they never sound right however hard I try. I am beginning to think that the 'delete' button is the best course of action and then hopefully people will get the hint and phone me. I really am asked the same question every day 'Do you have any Goliath Birdeater (T.blondi) spiders'. The answer is 'no', if I did they would be on my website! The other thing that drives me mad is the amount of phishing emails that I receive from customer's computers. I know that these things happen but many are coming from the same email addresses time and time again. Why don't these people have any internet security? One last moan (oh yes I do like a good moan), why do people persist in putting instructions for delivery on their orders? Orders are delivered by Royal Mail, I cannot instruct them to leave parcels around the sideway, with a neighbour, hoot horn loudly to attract attention or anything else. I may make a list of some of these and put them on my blog some time. They do give me a laugh but in all seriousness, the parcel needs to be signed for or it will be taken back to the delivery office.

On a personal note my mother in-law is fine, hobbling around the flat with her new hip but she has not yet been able to leave her flat so she still requires a lot of help (stitches come out today). It is our daughter's 18th birthday next week 23rd May and several other family birthdays within a few days. That weekend and the following weekend I will be very busy organising parties and not able to work as I have been doing lately (and will be doing this weekend). We almost had a disaster a couple of days ago when a woodpecker decided to break into our camera bird box. My husband saw the bird and I shooed it away but it left a gaping hole. We have managed to temporarily repair it and I am delighted that the mum and dad Great Tits are still feeding the babies. They are almost ready to fly but it was at this stage last year when I had to take the baby Blue Tits to St Tiggywinkles. Their parents disappeared and the babies were starving. I'm getting quite good at climbing our Eucalyptus tree. The box is pretty high up and hangs over the pond but I haven't fallen in yet!