Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Jake Levi]

Bob is a major loss to all of us who value Heritage Chickens. Very few have the knowledge of chicken conformation and laying selection that Bob had, and even fewer have the gift of being able to share it as Bob did.

I was a regular reader of this thread because of his wisdom and inputs. I will truly miss him, All of his back posts have now become even more valuable.

Rest well Bob, you did a real work here.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Anyone out there have a guy named Anthony's contact info??? (Bob Blosl's Mottled Java partner)

Kind of a situation developing...

Bob had arranged a fellow named David to pick up Dr. McGraw's Mottled Javas today and passed away before he could pick them up. He's been driving for 6 hours and still in route waiting by the phone to see if I can get this info. Unfortunately Bob never gave the contact info to me only his name and that he's located in Florida.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! He's sitting in the hotel lobby right now.

Glenis

Anthony Piccio
peachdog(something number two digits) on here he has a websight too I'll see if I can find it

I'm sure that Matt1616 and sgribble can contact him for you too


OK I see you got the info I was just posting as I was catching up this morning

And yes I thing the Administrator should put OUR respected post back like they were too, (both places/threads is fine) as its not like its chit-chat this is REAL J/S


Jeff

 

[Wisher1000]

We lost a dear friend, yesterday.

Bob Blosl was one in a million. I wish (there I go again) that I could let his family know how deeply we mourn for him. I wish that there was a way for all of us to go and stand in the road outside their home so that she could see the hundreds, if not thousands of people who's lives he touched. This thread, and the others he started, are where he will be remembered for a long time. I will keep every bit of correspondence he sent me, and I will share that information with others. I will collect his advice from other people and from his articles. I will miss the humor and obvious passion in his words and I will even miss the typos that I often giggled about. We could always tell when Bob was in a hurry to get his thoughts in writing. I want to see a collection of advice that Bob shared with us all in one place, so that some (even if it is only a small fraction) of his vast knowledge, is available to everyone who ever needs it. We know he was passionate about "Heritage" breeds and we know he would want to keep on helping others in that endeavor.

Please share any advice, encouragement, or humor that Bob blessed you with here -> https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/832171/robert-bob-blosls-words-of-wisdom

We love you, Bob, and we miss you terribly.......

 

[DuckLady]

And yes I thing the Administrator should put OUR respected post back like they were too, (both places/threads is fine) as its not like its chit-chat this is REAL J/S


Jeff

I wish they had copied them instead of moving them, this is the thread I will cherish, Bob's memory is tied up for me here and no where else. Please put the memories and memorials taken away back here, please.

Just wanted to clear this up before it is blown out of proportion.
Because Bob is so well known and respected outside this thread, as is our usual practice when a well loved member passes on, the posted were moved to a memorial thread in the busiest section of the forum so EVERYONE could see it and add their comments.

This was to respect and memorialize him. This way, that thread is added to our memorial thread here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/590996/in-memoriam

and added to his profile here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/50062/Robert-Blosl

If you have any other comments about this, be good enough to PM me instead of miscontruing my intent on public forum.

 

[NanaKat]

Thank you for making a thread available for those who wish to show their respects to Bob Blosl.
We can also share comments here about how much this great man has inspired us in the field of Heritage poultry and continue to learn from what he started here.
Hopefully there will other champions who will pick up the staff and continue to "kick the can on down the road" by posting photos and illiciting discussion of Heritage Large Fowl.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

When I awoke this morning, my thoughts went quickly to Bob, and there again came the pall of sadness. Conversely, when I allow myself to go there, I realize that the sadness is covering a bedrock of gratitude and affection. I never--ever--thought that a cyber community could engender such strong sentiment, but the truth of the matter is ineluctable.

The thing about standard-bred, aka heritage, fowl is that they are, indeed, a heritage. They are a legacy. They are passed down from one breeder to another, and their provenance, care, and descendence is only vouchsafed by relationship. Standard-bred fowl are so much more than backyard chickens, not simply in that they approach the Standard but because they are, each one, a signature. They are the work of human hands, and that work is infused with creativity, discipline, and obedience, which is to say, with a sort of active love. All who enjoy them eventually transcend the appearance of the fowl to the process needed that created the coveted beauty and utility. Eventually the art will bring you to the artist.

The artist may guard his work jealously, like a dragon on his gold, refusing to share, refusing to extend, and many do. As the new-comer approaches, this dragon-artist clutches his work closely and hoards, building walls that refuse entry, but this eventually leads to a form of sterility; the art of the hoarder becomes locked into a singular space in time and loses the necessary flow of sharing, the creative need to give, to receive and to give and to build communally. The other artist comes alive with his art. He has received it from a fount of generosity and so reveres it as a gift and a privilege. It is forever a thing of beauty and joy-making because it is a gift, but the love sustaining the gift is in the person of the giver. For this artist, the gift is always enshrouded in the skill, dedication, and attentiveness of mentors and the ages. When the new-comer approaches this artist, he is embraced by enthusiasm. En-thu means Into-God. This artist greets the newcomer with joy, because the new-comer is an opportunity to expand the gift. The mentored artist becomes the mentor and honestly desires to impart everything that he himself was given. When the new-comer is so greeted, he or she, too, is enfolded in this legacy of enthusiasm, and one recognizes that one has encountered the transcendental. The result is a joy that springs from gratitude. This art is not religion; however, it is devotion, and devotion is where we hone our sense for religion. The very word "religion" means that thing that "binds us together".

Bob is the artist filled with generosity and awe before the beauty of the gift he was given. Through shows and friends and the long-reaching arm of this thread that he so dedicatedly maintained--for years now, Bob has delighted in the opportunity to share. He has done so tirelessly and with great gratitude. He has repeatedly extended welcome and magnanimously shown patience. Because he believed in the value of the gift he had been given, he believed in the possibility that each new-comer could, also, be part of the heritage he so enjoyed. This is the heart of Bob as a teacher.

The teacher never knows where his legacy will end. Every lesson ripples out, and a lesson given is passed on and on until the words of the teacher have traveled far an wide. Many, many things Bob has said to us, to me, on-line, in messages, on the phone, have thoroughly become part of my practice and of my active imagination of this legacy that we hold. Can we not all say the same? His stories about the Reds, the Red Club, and E. B. Thompson, about his mentors, his firmly held beliefs of those things that will lead to success and of those that will lead to failure, his generosity of sharing his own experiences, positive and negative, that they might be tools of learning for others, all of this and so much more are now a permanent part of the legacy, the heritage of the gift he so enjoyed.

Much of the beauty of standard-bred poultry is wrapped up in its utter simplicity. It is an art open to all. It needs not the weighty, unattainable gold of ore; it has beautiful golden shanks. It needs not the costly acquisition of expensive, plush fabrics; it has feather quality and a plethora of patterns ranging from simple, pure self-colors to the most dynamically complicated parti-colored varieties. One of the great beauties of the art and challenging science of standard-bred poultry is that, in its simplicity, it transcends class and finance. It is complicated enough to stimulate for a lifetime and simple enough to be open to all who would learn. Beautiful results can be had with simple infrastructures. Appropriately run, small programs can yield masterful outcomes. The enjoyment of the fruits of these humble yet creative and disciplined labors can fill life with such blessing, and Robert Blosl exemplified the artist who delighted in this work and sought to foster it in the hearts of any who would consider its possibility.

Bob was enthusiastic, generous and kind. He shared with us all. He enriched all of our practices, which is to say our lives. He enkindled the nobility of the simple in sharing honestly his devotion to these fine fowl and the craftsmanship that led to their creation. He brought to us the legacy, the heritage of all he had learned and shared it without hoarding or reserve. He modeled the strength of perseverance and the discipline of focus, yet, in the proper form of a good teacher, he illustrated them in such a way that we could all relate and feel capable of joining him on the journey. It is our heritage and his legacy. Thus, truly, with enthusiasm, joy, and gratitude, we keep kicking the can down the road. KISS.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I just read about Bob. I am new here ... came to this part of BYC to harvest some of the wisdom he shared with this community. Please share my condolences and appreciation with his flock.

 

[windyflat]

Awesome post Joe! Thank you..

 

[Extra Java]

Joseph, that was so beautifully written - thank you.

Bob has always encouraged me to write about poultry and we wrote the last September Newsletter together around a project he came up with for the McGraw Javas.

I uploaded his article (PDF) on my website this morning along with another article he would have proof read for me.
link

Bob would be happy to hear that the gentleman just picked up the McGraw birds this morning from Anthony in FL after driving over 6 hours from AL.
I was so worried all night and this morning when I received a message that the 2 were still unable to connect. Finally, we can all sit down and breathe.

Thanks for all who helped make this transfer of hands possible.

And so they go...
"They are passed down from one breeder to another, and their provenance, care, and descendence is only vouchsafed by relationship." - Yellow House Farm

~Glenis

 

[3riverschick]

Hopefully there will other champions who will pick up the staff and continue to "kick the can on down the road" by posting photos and illiciting discussion of Heritage Large Fowl.

"Kicking the can down the road", good memorial title.