Hi, and welcome to another edition of "I'm too tired to think about this but
I can't let the list down".  So let's get going, shall we?

        "All right," said Eeyore. "We're going. Only Don't Blame Me."

I think tonight I'm just gonna sing a few praises.  A few of you have taken
special pains to make me feel good lately, and I want to thank you publicly.
I don't know if you will like this or not, but then...

        "I'm not asking anybody," said Eeyore. "I'm just telling everybody.
We can go look for the North Pole, or we can play 'Here we go gathering Nuts
and May' with the end part of an ant's nest. It's all the same to me."

First of all, to Robin Hicks, who's postcard I received today. I had seen
that before, wanted to buy it, and just didn't have the money. Now I not
only have one, but it's got a note from Robin on it, so it's far more
special than it would've been the other way.  Robin is one half of the duo
that wrote our amazing FAQ, and is maintaining it as well. I still can't
thank her enough for that.
        "...What I did was nothing. Any of you- except Rabbit and Owl and
Kanga- would have done the same. Oh, and Pooh. My remarks do not, of course,
apply to Piglet and Roo, becasue they are too small. Any of you would have
done the same. But it just happened to be Me..."

Secondly, in case you hadn't all figured it out by now, to one of my
favoritist people in all the world...

        "You mean Piglet. The little fellow with the excited ears. That's
Piglet. I'll tell him."

Exactly. Only in this case it's the not-so-little (5' 10" is the *perfect*
height, imho) lady with the excited ears (?) If I were to drop dead tomorrow
(no plans in that regard, mind you), the ZEP would keep right on going
because Shanna wouldn't miss a beat. She does more than you know to keep
things running here just by supporting me. In fact, some days her support is
the only thing that gets me to the end of the day in one piece! Anyway, I
love you girl, and thanks so much for all you do.

        "The pink went slowly up Piglet's nose to [her] ears, and settled
there...The tips of Piglets ears glowed suddenly, and [she] tried to say
something; but even after [she] had husked once or twice, nothing came out.
So Pooh went on."

Next, I hope you won't think I'm overdoing it in the adoration department,
but I am so grateful to Shae. In all seriousness, I really put her on the
spot in my last post, and she was gracious enough not only to indulge me,
but she posted right away and what a lovely post it was! (course, as you'll
soon see, they all are.) And she was so good-natured about it that I really
feel indebted to her for being so sweet. So my hat is off to (and here I'm
*dying* to use her real name since she brought it up, but that wouldn't be
fair, so I'll leave it to you all to guess at it) Shae! and now you all know
how much I apprecitate her.

        Eeyore stopped looking at himself in the stream, and turned to stare
at Piglet.
        "Just say that again," he said.

OK, OK, we won't get carried away.

Next, I want to thank Jenni for her wonderful post, and for being brave enough
to delurk 'early'. And although I will reply to it in a post a little later,
I must say this. Circ alluded to the fact that he doesn't post more often
because he knows so little about Pooh. And now Jenni expresses chagrin over
the fact that she knows almost nothing, and seems to imply that my vast Pooh
knowledge (as if!) was intimidating. Well, let me say, that I hope others of
you aren't feeling the same way. I most certainly don't mean to appear aloof
or to upstage anyone. This list was never meant to be a showcase for "Who knows
the most about Pooh" and it had darn well better never be. For those of us
who know Pooh, our desire is simply to share him. For those that don't, you
are in the right place! No one will think the less of you here. Please don't
be ashamed to ask questions, make comments, ask about recources, etc. Anyone
who has the knowledge will be glad to pass it on, and be very happy that
you're interested!

And along those lines, please remember that this list is not *just* about
Pooh. It's about being a Pooh fan. That means it's about you! We don't care
if you just found out who Pooh is yesterday, as long as you are interested
enough to be here, then we want to know about you! Did you see a good movie
yesterday? We'd love to hear about it! Did you get your hair cut? Are you
worried about an upcoming final? Are the kids sick? If it's about you- we
want to know. It doesn't have to be about Pooh, just because he is the
central theme of the list! All, the same, as you hang around, you'll be sure
to learn more about Pooh!

So thanks to you Jenni for telling us about you! By the way, I *do* respect
your desire to 'learn before you speak'. I wish some other people in other
newsgoups and mailing lists would do the same. But rest assured, that in
*this* group, you will learn best by speaking!

        Owl gave a great sigh of relief.
        "Ah!" said Owl. "*Now* we know where we are."
        "Yes, but where's Christopher Robin?" said Rabbit. "That's the point."

Sometimes I wonder myself. Sorry I got so long winded. I hope it made sense.

Thanks all for reading. If you got this far, you're to be commended! And
with that...

        "He nodded and went out...and in a moment I heard Winnie-the-Pooh --
bump, bump, bump -- going up the stairs behind him."

CR