Hi all!
I never imagined that I would hit 1000.
I have posted before that I found this place via Patrick D’arcy’s old messageboard on his Uilleann Obsession website. It was back in fall of 2001 and I had just ordered a set of Uilleann Pipes. I’m still waiting on them. 
When I first started lurking I pretty much stayed on the UP forum but then one day for some forgotten reason I started lurking around the whistle board. Then I started participating and before long, I dug out my forgotten pennywhistles which had been mothballed for years. I never really learned anything on them back then but thanks to all of the indirect and direct encouragement that has come from all you fine folks I am playing all the time and actually getting somewhat OK sounding on them. I’ve got a stout case of WhOA that has made me go to great lengths to obtain whatever whistles that I have “needed” over the last year and a half or so. The world of whistles is actually a lot more interesting than I ever imagined.
I think Chiff and Fipple is a great place and I enjoy and learn a lot about a lot of things from what I read here, and, like a lot of others, I’m sure, I am always wondering what’s going on in all the other Chiffsters lives as days go by and hoping that everything is ok with everyone and their families and pets and all. For what it’s worth, this community enriches my life and I am glad that it’s here. I just wanted y’all to know that you mean a lot to me. Thanks.