Same trip this fall...part deaux
So the second group of koi is to come in...I am ready, excited most about "Kay's koi".. This is the Sanke my mother in law bought as her first koi ever. Truly koi kichi, she stayed an extra two months with us just waiting for
this koi to arrive. My son sleeping on the couch now for almost 4 months so she could have a bedroom. But I am getting ahead of myself....
The breeder wrote me an email the morning they are to be shipped... Saying the koi are coming, but apologizing that Kay's Sanke did not come to Isawa, but a very similar Sanke was sent by mistake. Honesty. We realized after we left that no pictures were taken by, or given to the breeder when we bought the koi. We were all so excited. We had emailed pictures back to them, but as some know, the breeder of that koi is Toshio Sakai's right hand man. Igarashi San. So he was in Isawa when the koi was sent from Niigata. Easy to mistake, especially when descibed, and not with a picture. So we received the koi that were coming uneventfully, and those made it through the quarantine period. But now it was getting too cold, and other "normal" problems with shipping during Christmas time, especially for just one koi. The cost. ouch. But the breeder, the dealer, and I persevered. I saw Kay's face every day and the disappointment. So maybe I kept bugging them
Finally after alot of effort by the dealer and breeder, they told me "not possible to ship one koi".
So I said, what about 2 koi? ....more time.. "not possible" too much to ship for just that...So now Kay is getting uncomfortable leaving her house for so long in Michigan... So her flight is set... January 12 she is to leave... I am thinking.. I really wanted more koi from this breeder... really..LOL.. not a rationalization.. I wanted similar age of several gosanke as what we had lost. So I asked.. how about Nisai kohaku and another GR Chagoi (I love the one we already got from them this trip)...Possible? Now with 3 boxes, it is getting doable...Still, 3 boxes.. not a normal "shipment", and I need my friend and dealer part deaux to step up. He refused to take the money I insisted on paying him for his time.. I figure he lost at least a full day from work, and that might just be on shipping day. And the day of shipping? January 9. Just in time...God meant for Kay to see her koi again b4 she went home... This is also above and beyond. Follow through and service after the sale. This on koi they didnt make any money off anyway, as we bought the "part deaux koi" as '"free agents" and asked if they would ship for us.
Kay and I rode to the airport at midnight Jan 9, picked up the koi, and brought them home. It made it all worth it when she released the koi into the quarantine and said "Welcome to America". That is something Shila and I will not forgot.