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Submitted by Dot Wilbanks
Both MKK-ZNA and Lonestar members came together at Diane Caulk's home for this meeting. Over 40 people showed up for this get-together to admire Diane's home, ponds and koi. If you've never seen her koi, you're missing out on some magnificent giants, many are over 36 inches.
Ron spoke about feeding koi as it relates to water temperatures and what makes a great kohaku. We're fortunate to live in a sub tropical climate but the high summer temps are stressful on koi if not fed correctly. This subject was an eye opener for many that attended. Thank you Diane for opening your doors to all.
MKK-ZNA's June meeting was held at the Downtown Houston Aquarium. Jim Prappas, a member and the Director of Animal Husbandry for the Aquarium, invited us indoors to keep cool for this summer meeting. This year, Jim personally gave us the behind the scenes set up and tour of the Aquarium. He went into great details about the aquatic animals and their living habitats. We saw everything from giant freshwater prawns to deep sea groupers as well as tarantulas, anacondas, octopus, snapping turtles and white tigers. There were so much more, you had to be there.
There were a few special viewings this year for us. We were invited "to the back" to see where the quarantine fish were kept and the shark tunnel over the rail road tracks. It was a close call for us since that train came in while we were mesmerized under the sharks and paddle fish. After this Jim and his staff gave the MKK members access to closed doors of where the white tigers are kept. They demonstrated the techniques of how the white tigers are trained. Boy, those kitties are HUGE. One of the tigers really love Ron!
Afterwards, we went upstairs to the dining hall and David Waller, our club president, presented to Jim a beautiful crystal shark statuette in appreciation for inviting us and his hard work. We all then ate a delicious lunch together and Jim gave us tickets for the rides at the park. All in all this was a very educational and "cool" meeting.
APRIL 19, 2008
Once again, Shigeru Mano of Dainichi Koi Farm in Japan honored us with his presence.
Shigeru brought over special certified female ake nisai and show quality tosai for us.
This year’s selection was nothing less of Dainichi but as an added bonus Shigeru brought
over the offsprings of Sakura and we were the first to acquire them. For those not familiar
with Sakura, she was the 2007 All Japan Grand Champion bred by Dainichi. 
Shigeru did not travel alone this year, he brought with him Eriko, his fiancée, for us to
meet. What a sweetheart and beautiful lady and the perfect complement to be by Shigeru’s side. We toasted to Shigeru and Eriko’s future and presented them with gifts from the club, which is a time-honored tradition. The really impressive gift was candleholders
created by Oleg Cassini with their names engraved on the base. Shigeru also received a beautiful glass fish to add to his collection.
Ron and Nancy hosted this meeting & were proud to show off their new 24,000 gallons
koi pond. The pond has the best filters, aeration, and UV lights to keep the koi in perfect
water condition. Shigeru brought over three of Ron’s koi that have been boarded in Japan
for the last few years and they now live in their new home in Friendswood. Many thanks
to Mrs. Goforth (Ron’s Mom) who was up at 4 AM to prepare food for this annual event
and she gave us a great lunch. Our buffet table consisted of savory Texas BBQ brisket
and all the trimmings, none of the forty plus members and guests that attended
went home hungry.
Our wholehearted appreciation to Ron and his incredible talents for the organization as we
all know “without him, doing the thing he does best, it would never happen”. Let’s not
forget all the extra efforts put forth by some of our members to make this event possible,
people such Tommy Emanuel who flew to Dallas to receive the koi from customs, Bob
Johnson, David Waller, and Bob Pelke from Chicago.
March 2008
This meeting was at Brett's Fish Farm in Danbury, Texas. We had excellent weather with lots of sunshine, not a drop of rain and just enough wind to keep everyone cool and happy.
Four years ago Ron Goforth put his prized koi in Brett's mud ponds for safe keeping until he could build another pond at his new home in Friendswood. Ron's pond is now close enough to completion so that he decided to bring his fish home where he and Nancy could watch them grow. With the help of our koi club members they did a seining at 2 different times during the day to get his koi out and put safely into a holding tank. Ralph Bates, our koi representative gave us the latest update from the ZNA meeting he attended. We then had hot dogs, chips, dip and all the trimmings to round out a fun day for everyone involved.
Billie & Tommy Emanuel were elected Koi Persons of the Year by
unanimous vote. Congratulations, as you both deserve it & do a
tremendous amount of volunteering in the koi club. On a much sadder note we lost one of our beloved members in March. We did a champagne toast to Buddy Caulk & all the memories we share of his past deeds. He will definitely be missed by all who knew & loved him as we did. Our deepest sympathy to his wife, Diane, his sons & family.
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January 2008
After all the cold, wet rainy weather Texas has endured this year the weatherman gave us a break for our lst meeting of the year.
David Waller hosted our January 2008 meeting so we could see his fabulous collection that is artfully displayed in his dining
room. An entire miniature village of Dept. 52 houses, shops,
hotels, etc. a working trolley car & water fountain just to name
a few. He has been collecting for over 25 years and it is a fantastic display of ingenuity & dedication just like his hobby of koi
keeping. David’s koi pond is 15 years old & still working just fine. He makes a 25% water change every Sunday & he must be
doing something right as his koi are healthy & beautiful. Since we had such a beautiful & unexpected nice day we opted to have the
meeting outdoors. This enabled us to watch Brett Rowley check the water quality & clarity during the progress of the meeting. Brett in turn complimented David on the fact that everything in his pond was as it should be.
Ron Goforth & Brett Rowley then gave us a very comprehensive
analysis of what it takes for us as koi keepers to get the most out of
our koi. Strong currents in our ponds help to exercise & build up
the body structure & along with lots of aeration helps keep the koi
healthy. Everything works together to help us produce strong blacks, redder reds or Hi , whiter white & of course the beautiful skin we all try to achieve. As the discussion was coming to a close everyone wanted to know more about the problems & solutions of high or low alkalinity, nitrites & nitrates We all brought a covered dish to add to David’s buffet table & then continued to enjoy his pond & backyard.
