Hello all!

I found a nice source of information on the WWW about a unique musical
instrument .. the Hurdy-gurdy.  Many of us are interested in all sorts
of musical instruments, so this may be of value to you:

 Alden Hackmann's Hurdy-gurdy Home Page:

   http://weber.u.washington.edu/~darkstar/

There is lots of info on gurdy's (or is it gurdies??), as well as links
to many other information sources.

Also, there is a vending company called "Hurdy-Gurdy"!  They sell musical
carts for selling Hurdy-Gurdy sorbet in malls and such.  The only reason
I mention it is their page contains a nice animated gif file of a monkey
'grinding' an organ which may be of use on one of your home pages:

   http://www.hurdy-gurdy.com/

If you're using Netscape, you can save the gif file by right-clicking on
it and using 'file save as' to save it right from the page to a directory
of your choice.

There's also a picture of one of their vending carts which has a Hofbauer-
style 'monkey organ' mounted upon it!  At least there will be real organ
music emanating from these carts!

Also, I'd like to mention my favorite Web bookstore:

   http://www.amazon.com

It's a huge bookstore in Seattle, WA which provides excellent service and
discounted prices (of course, by the time shipping charges are included
there isn't much saved :).  They are terrific folks to deal with, though.

I'm feeling especially friendly to them right now because I just received
a free mouse pad from them as a token of their appreciation for being a
valued customer.  Small stuff, maybe, but it's nice to be appreciated in
these days of declining customer service.

 As it says on the pad:

   "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
    Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read!"  -- Groucho Marx

While I'm here, I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and
a bountiful New Year!  Thank You Jody and Robbie and everyone who
works so hard to maintain the marvelous quality of our beloved MMD.
God Bless you all.

Ron Yost .. from Paso Robles, California