CHICAGO - After more than two months offline, The Ultimate VeggieTales web site is back! I hope you didn't lose heart and remove the site from your bookmarks list. Here's a quick word on what happened, and on what's new here on the site:

In July, I received a notice from the company who hosted UltimateVeggie.com. The site is just too popular, they said. UltimateVeggie.com had 48 hours to find a new home, unless I wanted to increase my monthly fee by a factor of 10.

After two days of trying to resolve the situation and convince the company to talk to me, the site came down. I realized that they weren't interested in allowing me to solve the problem - if there really was one. They were more interested in extorting more money, or getting rid of a high-bandwidth site.

But without getting into the legal issues, I embarked on a quest to find a new home for UltimateVeggie.com. It took some doing, since the site has such a high volume of traffic and requires a great deal of storage space. Finally, thanks to a kind and anonymous benefactor, a home was found!

UltimateVeggie.com will be here for a long time, so don't worry about a thing!

I am trying to work hard and update the site ... we still need lots of stuff from King George and the Ducky and Esther - The Girl Who Became Queen. Be sure to visit the official VeggieTales web site, BigIdea.com, for all the latest on new videos.

Where are those missing sound files from the last few videos? They're nowhere in sight, I'm afraid. I no longer have access to the right equipment to record sound clips at a decent audio quality. Unless someone would like to record a ton and give me access to download them, I'm afraid that part of the site is on hold indefinitely.

New coloring pages? New desktop wallpapers, icons, or screen savers? Sorry! I no longer have the spare time to update those sections. But my friends and I are working hard to bring you this stuff at another site - BigIdea.com! You'll find the highest-quality downloads there. (And I'll leave the current archives up here at UltimateVeggie.com.)

So, while I do that, UltimateVeggie.com is "streamlining." You'll still find breaking news on the latest VeggieTales videos and products, plus a complete episode guide (with summaries, song lyrics, pictures, "In the Background" and more) for every VeggieTales video there is!

If you've got suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear 'em. Just use the Feedback form to e-mail me! I hope you continue to visit The Ultimate VeggieTales Web Site! for all your very Veggie needs.