thanks to WK & WGS

[dick benbow]

Last night I had the opportunity to speak to the washington Koi and watergarden Society( woodinville-Washington state) meeting about selection of tosai. I was grateful for the opportunity to speak and encouraged by all the questions and comments after.
I think a teacher's greatest joy is to know that the lesson for the day was grasped!
for those of you going to the toshio sakai seminar this Feb, my presentation would have been similar in many aspects to some of the material he will cover. ( I got my info from the master)LOL! I'm looking forward to learning more from my teacher!

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow Last night I had the opportunity to speak to the washington Koi and watergarden Society( woodinville-Washington state) meeting about selection of tosai. I was grateful for the opportunity to speak and encouraged by all the questions and comments after. I think a teacher's greatest joy is to know that the lesson for the day was grasped! for those of you going to the toshio sakai seminar this Feb, my presentation would have been similar in many aspects to some of the material he will cover. ( I got my info from the master)LOL! I'm looking forward to learning more from my teacher!

Hi Dick,

It is nice to know that there are people out there, like you, that will take the time to support the hobby with good information and fun events.

[dick benbow]

thanks Russ,
As you and I both know, you can'y help be excited about the hobby of caring for koi, and you just want to share it with others...it's that good....
but only when you can help them put up a proper facility and get the best out of the hobby for where they are at the time.
Two ladies that were brand new ( 3 months) were off to the side of the main group and I went over before the meeting reading the body language( hey! I'm new here and don't know where to fit in ) and spent about 15 mins prior to the meeting going over basics. They had 37 F water and gravel botton but the water is crystal clear. Out of respect ( hey i started at the beginning too) I tried to explain that crystal clear water does not mean good water but was super diplomatic. I hope other club members who read this in all the clubs take 5 mins upon arrival to a meeting not to just fall into your olde friends but to please take time to build up new friends. Folks just want to fit in....
My reward was in the parking lot with several members who had been there
a long time and to hear them speaking excited again about doing some fish shopping because now they knew what to look for.
The neat thing about our hobby Russ is there is so much for so many peoples irregardless to gender, or age or nationality...you can go as far as you want to...it's kinda like nurturing a garden.....here comes the green plant pushing thru the soil from seed...here comes the first show of color as they begin to blossum...quess it's up to the all of us to see that it gets watered and weeded along the way!!!!!!!

[Danjols]

Dick, How great it is that you are spreading koi kichi about the globe, we are very lucky to keep your interests here is God's Country, east side of the Cascade Divide.

I wonder if you could help all of us a bit with picking those tategoi, talking about how even those in the know sometimes don't get it right. I'm thinking beginners need to understand better how difficult predicting really is, even when you know all the basics by heart. Example; hi dissappears when thining it should not and other examples.

[dick benbow]

wow dan, that's a big assignment.....what i find for example in being a student of Matsunosuke for a couple of decades is that Toshio as others breeders are, are always adding new parents and trying new genes and so you think you know a keito and you really don't. This keeps you humble, expecially with beni.....when i first was a student I looked for a red on tosai that was like maki---a yellowish orange that each year got oranger and then redder. Now toshio is producing perfect red at the start and it stays that way most of the time.....LOL. Also some of his better black used to come up and go down for the first several years, now I don't find that happening as much.

Omosako's shiro utusri pecs can be solid black as yearlings and then as they age the black rolls back to form perfect motoguro. other bloodlines you'd better find a good white front ray when the rest is all black or it wpn't roll back.


I think in short you agree that this hobby forces you to be a student (lifetime) and the more you learn the more you realize you must learn.

[ChrisC]

It will surprise no one on this board that it was a) an excellent and informative lecture, and that b) Members of WKWGS are now MUCH BETTER able to select among tosai--and know a fair amount about what to look for in a certain blue and red fish.

It was a really fun night, and old jaded koi keepers, the hassle factor of a number of really nasty storms fresh in mind, were re-enlivened in the hobby and excited to get organized for the new season as a result of the talk.

Doesn't get better than that.

My thanks, Dick.

ChrisC
This years Program Chair
WKWGS

[dick benbow]

thanks Chris, appreciative for the invite!