diff --git a/statsdpy/__init__.py b/statsdpy/__init__.py
index 0028de9..56b88b8 100644
--- a/statsdpy/__init__.py
+++ b/statsdpy/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 
 #: Version information (major, minor, revision[, 'dev']).
-version_info = (0, 0, 11)
+version_info = (0, 0, 12)
 #: Version string 'major.minor.revision'.
 version = __version__ = ".".join(map(str, version_info))
 gettext.install('statsdpy')
diff --git a/statsdpy/statsd.py b/statsdpy/statsd.py
index fc97866..a7daf09 100644
--- a/statsdpy/statsd.py
+++ b/statsdpy/statsd.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 class StatsdServer(object):
     TRUE_VALUES = set(('true', '1', 'yes', 'on', 't', 'y'))
+
     def __init__(self, conf):
         self.logger = logging.getLogger('statsdpy')
         self.logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ def __init__(self, conf):
         self.graphite_host = conf.get('graphite_host', '127.0.0.1')
         self.graphite_port = int(conf.get('graphite_port', '2003'))
         self.graphite_pport = int(conf.get('graphite_pickle_port', '2004'))
+        self.graphite_timeout = int(conf.get('graphite_timeout', '5'))
         self.pickle_proto = conf.get('pickle_protocol') in self.TRUE_VALUES
         self.max_batch_size = int(conf.get('pickle_batch_size', '300'))
         self.listen_addr = conf.get('listen_addr', '127.0.0.1')
@@ -82,7 +84,7 @@ def _get_batches(self, items):
         for i in xrange(0, len(items), self.max_batch_size):
             yield items[i:i + self.max_batch_size]
 
-    def report_stats(self, payload):
+    def report_stats(self, payload, is_retry=False):
         """
         Send data to graphite host
 
@@ -94,34 +96,51 @@ def report_stats(self, payload):
             else:
                 print "reporting stats -> {\n%s}" % payload
         try:
-            with eventlet.Timeout(5, True):
-                graphite = socket.socket()
+            graphite = socket.socket()
+            with eventlet.Timeout(self.graphite_timeout, True):
                 graphite.connect(self.graphite_addr)
                 graphite.sendall(payload)
                 graphite.close()
+        except eventlet.timeout.Timeout:
+            self.logger.critical("Timeout sending to graphite")
+            if self.debug:
+                print "Timeout talking to graphite"
+            if not is_retry:
+                self.logger.critical('Attempting 1 retry!')
+                self.report_stats(payload, is_retry=True)
+            else:
+                self.logger.critical('Already retried once, giving up')
         except Exception as err:
             self.logger.critical("error connecting to graphite: %s" % err)
             if self.debug:
                 print "error connecting to graphite: %s" % err
+        finally:
+            try:
+                graphite.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
 
     def stats_flush(self):
         """
         Periodically flush stats to graphite
         """
         while True:
-            eventlet.sleep(self.flush_interval)
-            if self.debug:
-                print "seen %d stats so far." % self.stats_seen
-                print "current counters: %s" % self.counters
-            if self.pickle_proto:
-                payload = self.pickle_payload()
-                if payload:
-                    for batch in payload:
-                        self.report_stats(batch)
-            else:
-                payload = self.plain_payload()
-                if payload:
-                    self.report_stats(payload)
+            try:
+                eventlet.sleep(self.flush_interval)
+                if self.debug:
+                    print "seen %d stats so far." % self.stats_seen
+                    print "current counters: %s" % self.counters
+                if self.pickle_proto:
+                    payload = self.pickle_payload()
+                    if payload:
+                        for batch in payload:
+                            self.report_stats(batch)
+                else:
+                    payload = self.plain_payload()
+                    if payload:
+                        self.report_stats(payload)
+            except: # safety net
+                self.logger.critical('Encountered error in stats_flush loop')
 
     def pickle_payload(self):
         """obtain stats payload in batches of pickle format"""
@@ -180,6 +199,7 @@ def plain_payload(self):
         for key in self.timers:
             if len(self.timers[key]) > 0:
                 self.process_timer_key(key, tstamp, payload)
+                self.timers[key] = []
 
         for key in self.gauges:
             payload.append("%s.%s %d %d\n" % (self.gauge_prefix, key,
@@ -333,7 +353,11 @@ def run(self):
             else:
                 for metric in data.splitlines():
                     if metric:
-                        self.decode_recvd(metric)
+                        try:
+                            self.decode_recvd(metric)
+                        except: # safety net
+                            self.logger.critical("exception in decode_recvd")
+                            pass
 
 
 class Statsd(Daemon):