#137 - All The Water on the 45°N Parallel

Welcome back to another episode of the Sprinkler Nerd Show. I'm your host, Andy Humphrey, coming to you from the 45th parallel, the 45th parallel. That might make you wonder what parallel you are on. What is your parallel? It's not typically something that we think about unless we're talking about the seasons or the amount of sunlight.

We kind of just take for granted where we live, but not necessarily in reference to a parallel. I think we all know what the equator is. Right? Zero. So 45 would be halfway to the North Pole. I'm on, I should say 45th parallel north. I didn't clear, I need to clarify that. 45th parallel north, which runs directly across West Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City, Michigan.

And today I'm taking my sailboat, which is a 35 foot sloop. It's 1961 Allberg 35 hull number two that was gifted to me by some friends in the. Awesome story that I almost want to tell you right now because I'm on her, but let's save that maybe for another time because it's not super relevant. But what is relevant is I'm on right now, I think the second largest body of freshwater.

I should fact check that because this is Lake Michigan. And I believe Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes in terms of total volume and then Lake Michigan. So this must be the second largest body of water. And there's all kinds. Here's a fun facts about the Great Lakes, most of which we should probably know because of the industry that we're in and actually we should just likely know as American citizens because this water is in the United States, uh, although it touches Canada, no, that's not true.

Lake Michigan does not touch Canada. It touches the upper peninsula of Michigan. Lake Superior touches Canada and then the other Eastern Great Lakes touch Canada. Anyway, I'm on Lake Michigan. I'm returning my boat to dry dock, which is about a four and a half hour power and this week got a little ahead of, got a little ahead of me and I didn't record an episode and I'm hoping that when I get to port here in another hour, I can sit down and see if any of this recording actually came out.

I'm, I've got this newer microphone, it's handheld cause the last time I recorded an episode with the wireless lavaliers, it didn't come out so well. I'm looking here at my iPhone and at the, you know, sort of. The, I don't have the words for it, but the, the sound waves, yeah, the sound waves. And I can clearly see my voice and I don't know how much of it's being filtered out with the noise.

You can maybe hear the sound of my atomic four engine purring away original engine, which is freaking crazy that an engine from 1961 still works from what I understand. Atomic fours are, you can't kill them as long as you maintain them, you can't kill them. And they're heavily used in tractors. Some of you guys listening are familiar with engines and mechanics.

I'm not and owning this boat, I've become more and more familiar, particularly this year on how carburetors work because I don't ever, most of us don't have to mess with carburetors on our vehicles unless you have an antique vehicle and such. So I had a couple issues this year with float sticking and fuel filling the basin, the bottom of the carburetor and it's spilling out.

And then there's a vacuum tube that on this model sucks it out, returns it to the top of the engine. So, yeah, became a little bit of a, I guess a novice expert, even though those words are opposites. I'm a beginner at engine repair. So anyway, there's a lot to think about when I'm out here for a couple hours on Lake Michigan because the water is fresh and there are places, many places in the United States and the world where there's no water, yet I look out here and it's hundreds of feet deep fresh water.

And here in Traverse City, we have two bays, West Bay. East Bay. And there's a 20 mile long peninsula. That's a couple of miles wide and on East Bay, not far from my house, it gets almost 600 feet deep, which is pretty incredible of fresh water. And, uh, you know, it's just fascinating that living around here, people take water for granted because it's right here and there's so much of it.

Yet the population is in very dense around here. So I wonder what, I wonder what the world might look like in 50 years. And in 500. 100 years, will we continue to build where there's no water, or will these areas become more populated and what kind of conversations will we be having as a society as it as it relates to that?

Will we allow development to take place, such as here in northern Michigan, where there's a lot of water? What, what kind of conversations will we have, and will this land become extremely valuable because of its water resource, and will the arid deserts be devalued over time? Will water play into the future value of property?

Not because of the mineral, the water rights on the property, but because of access to it and people wanting to build, uh, build here and grow these communities. So, anyway, as I sit here on Lake Michigan, solo, on my boat, I have the auto pilot running. And you guys would laugh if you saw my autopilot because this boat has a tiller, which is super fun when you're sailing.

because you get a really good feel. But when you let go of the tiller, the boat literally turns immediately. It does not drive straight because of the prop wash that comes off the prop uh, against the rudder. It just turns immediately. So I've got the tiller tied off to a cleat on the port side with some tension and it steers a straight line and if I need to deviate a little bit, all I have to do is slide the line tied to the tiller up a couple...

Millimeters or down a couple millimeters to get back on track or change course. Uh huh What else am I gonna share with you here? Solo on the mic. I think, uh, I was talking too much. I let my cigar go out. Yes, I have a cigar. 'cause smoke it if smoke one if you have one. And I, because I had engine trouble earlier this year, I wasn't sure if I was even gonna make it up to Northport, but now I North port's in sight, so I'm going to make it

so I figured I would. Light up a cigar and relax and celebrate making it to Northport as well as celebrate cleaning some data. We put some sensor devices on a new client's property and all of the data that came back, we were able to match it up and we have a clean, a clean set of, of water use data that we're providing for a client and that feels really good also.

And I hope that wherever you are on this, this weekend in September that you're happy, you're healthy. You can celebrate life. You can celebrate the industry that we are in and the position that we have having a hand in our water resource and perhaps maybe think about it that way. You have a hand in the water resource.

It's not just, you know, growing plants, although that's what we are doing. It's using the right amount of water and water is a precious resource and there are many individuals in the world that don't have any water to even drink. So remember, you're in the water. You're technically in the water resource business and feel proud of it.

Learn as much as you can about it. Keep an open mind about it. Lots of ways to accomplish all kinds of things. And you know, all sprinklers are created equal, right? It's the, it's the user of the device that holds the power, not this sprinkler or that sprinkler or this controller or that controller. It's you, you, the installer, you, the maintainer, you, the designer, you guys are the ones.

So yeah. What else, what else is going on in the world? Of water. Let's see, I did learn this week that there are two states that do not, that all the water in the state runs off. And I don't think I'm going to give you the answer. I'm just going to leave that there. If you're curious, you could probably Google it.

There are two United States that any, that all the water that lands from the sky leaves the state. Think about that. Literally leaves the state. And of course I'm not counting, you know, there are ponds and, and um, you know, bodies of water. But generally speaking, any water that lands in the state exits the state.

That was just an interesting, I guess an interesting fact I learned this week that you can, you can do some bar trivia next time you're alone and you tell somebody what you do, ask them that question. I won't give you the answer. You can go figure it out. Yeah, so, appreciate you guys listening. And, um, yeah, this is, I gotta get this podcast in because I'm sticking to my everyday fri I it really doesn't matter.

I guess it doesn't really matter what I'm doing, or what I have time for. It's up to me to make the time, and up to me to make some content. And, God, I would just love to host a, some kind of an event up here on Lake Michigan. Because it's just such a great place to, it's just such a great lens to look at what we do through.

And maybe that's the way to describe, all of us have different lenses. If you live in Miami, you have a lens on what we do, and what this industry is. Through the lens of Miami, if you live in Seattle, you are going to have a lens on this industry and what we do through the lens of Seattle. Same thing goes for San Diego, San Antonio, Boston, New Orleans, St.

Louis, Minneapolis. We all have a lens on what we do from the position at which we sit and where we're located and what we've learned. And I can tell you that sitting on one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world is such an Perspective really, really makes you think, uh, let's see. Are there any exciting announcements out there that I can share?

Um, Hmm. Hmm. I don't think there is this time. Yeah. I would just say, try something new next week, install a new product you've never used before. See what happens and make that a, make that a general practice in what you do. Always try new things, experiment what you think works, embrace. And what doesn't work, leave to be and maybe try it another time later.

So that's all I got guys. I can see North Port Marina in sight. I'm not too far away. I appreciate you guys listening to the mind of Andy today. Thank you so much. We'll catch you on the next episode. I'm out. Bye bye.