30 years ago, our company was much smaller and our ‘home office’ was actually at my family’s farmstead in Ham Lake. This particular Spring, we had only one Lawn Sprinkler Installation Crew with barely enough work to keep them working. However, I was confident sales would pick up once the weather turned warm, but it was a very slow start to that season.
So, I gave him the best laborers I could find, supplied him with the technical support he needed, purchased a new (used) pipe puller and away he went with his crew to the Fox Ridge Townhouse Project. Each day he would return from Fox Ridge and color in on the Master Irrigation Plan how far he had gotten that day and we would discuss the next day’s work and what his goals for that day would be. This turned out to be a very good job for us, albeit, not without issues. However, Jeff proved to be an excellent foreman and great problem solver; all went well.
At the conclusion of this two month project, Jeff and I went to the site to do the ‘Final Walk Through’ with the Project Architect and owner. I wasn’t worried as I had visited the site many, many times and everything worked great and all the lawns were plush and green – in spite record heat and the rock hard clay Jeff and his crew had to battle with each day.
Well, wouldn’t you know it; during the inspection, one of the big, automatic zone valves ‘stuck on’ and the water on that section of the big irrigation system wouldn’t turn off. So, Jeff stayed to tear the underground valve apart to see what the problem was, while I took the owner and architect to inspect the rest of the site. Every other part of the system was perfect, and at the end of the inspection, the architect suggested to the owner that they go over some other aspects of the project; they would look at that last zone with the sticky valve before they left.
So, I walked over to the other end of the site to see how Jeff was doing. When I arrived, he was on his knees, had bailed out the big hole he had had to dig to expose the valve and was just taking the last of the dozen screws out to remove the valve cap. I got down to help him, as he pulled the big valve apart along with the diaphragm, spring, solenoid, etc. After he removed these parts, I examined the valve casing; everything looked good. Jeff discovered a small pebble blocking a communication journal in the valve cap and removed it. Then, just as we were going re-assemble the valve, a huge bullfrog leaped into the big puddle we were working over, then jumped into the valve casing in the middle of the puddle. Jeff and I both fell into the muddy puddle trying to grab the frog by its legs before it disappeared into the mainline pipe, and I managed to grab the frog by one of his toes. Unfortunately, I never found out which toe, because he slipped out of my grasp and into the innards of the irrigation Mainline!
We couldn’t believe it; what were the odds that a bullfrog would decide to jump into our puddle and into this valve – right during this big inspection! Well, Jeff had the idea that since the frog had gone up into the intake side of the valve, maybe we could flush him out by turning on the big 2” mainline water valve. Good idea: I volunteered to be the guy that turned on the water, around the corner and 150 yards away. Jeff would be the guy to stay by the puddle and watch for the frog to come out.
So, up I went to the mainline valve and turned it on full blast as fast as I could (thinking this would surprise the frog and scare him out of the valve). I waited about 15 seconds, turned off the valve, then ran back around the corner of the townhouse in hopes that Jeff would give me the high-sign that we were Frog-Free.
No such luck, and Jeff was soaked to the gills from the big blast of water. After jogging back to ask Jeff if he was sure the frog hadn’t gotten blown out (maybe he missed the frog in the maelstrom of water that had gushed out of the pipe?!), he reported that he was certain he hadn’t missed the frog; ‘couldn’t I tell how closely he was watching be seeing how soaking wet he was???’
“Well OK”, I said, “Let’s try one more time, and as long as you’re all wet already, why don’t you stay here and watch and I’ll turn on the water again”. “John, I really don’t think it’s going to help to try this again. If we could flush him out, he would be flushed out already!” Jeff exclaimed. “Well geez Jeff”, I replied. “What if we put this whole valve back together and he gets all jammed up in there and we have to take the valve all apart again?” Jeff agreed, “Alright, one more try but let’s make it a good one. Keep the valve on for like 30 seconds or until I shout up to you that the frog is gone.”
So, up I went, turned on the water and went back around the corner to see how Jeff was doing. The water, with 65 PSI of pressure, was blowing up almost 10 feet in the air and cascading down all over Jeff. I’m sure over a hundred gallons of water came out during this second flushing, all over Jeff. This was quite a sight, and I wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the heart. After waiting almost half a minute I ran back and turned off the water valve.
I then returned to see how Jeff was doing; he wasn’t doing too well. He was really soaked now, and still no Bull Frog! We decided to put the valve back together and try it out.
At just about that time, the architect and owner sauntered up to us and asked how it was going; the architect said he had to leave in just a few minutes. “Well, we just about have ‘er fixed up”, I reported. “We found a piece of gravel in the valve and now Jeff here is putting the valve back together.” Jeff finished up re-assembling the automatic valve, I walked to the main valve, turned it on (and crossed my fingers).
The now reassembled valve turned on perfectly as we turned the zone valve on and off a number of times and all the sprinkler heads on that big zone operated just as they should. Then, with no warning, the heads all went to ½ pressure for about 2 seconds, then turned back on again – all but one sprinkler at the end of the line. At that point the architect and owner were satisfied when I told them we would fix that one last head, they signed off on the Final Punch List, congratulated us on a job well done and left.
After they disappeared around the corner, Jeff and I discussed different scenario’s as to why the sprinklers had lost pressure like that, and what the heck was wrong with that one last sprinkler head that wasn’t working at all? We took the sprinkler head apart and what do you think we found? The Bull Frog! He had gotten flushed through the workings of the automatic valve, washed along all the piping in the zone to the last sprinkler head and gotten smushed into the filter. Jeff and I couldn’t stop laughing. He was a soaking mess, and I wasn’t in much better shape with all the muddy water from trying to catch the Bull Frog. “And you had him by the toe and almost caught him!”, Jeff gasped. I had tears in my eyes from laughing, “Did you ever have Bull Frog by the toe Jeff?” I giggled. “They’re too slippery to hold on to!”
We have had many, many strange things happen to us over the years after installing thousands of underground, automatic Irrigation Systems (including the system at the Target Field). But that was the only time we had any problems with Bull Frogs. Thankfully!
I am proud to announce that Jeff Sutter is in his 30th year at Mickman Brothers, and he is now our General Manager. It is professionals like Jeff that make our company the leader we are in each our respective industries.
We are proud to have Jeff on our team, as well as all the dozens of other dedicated professionals we have on board to assist our customers. And thank you Jeff of all your dedication, hard work and creative ideas that have helped shape our company (including how to flush a Bull Frog through an automatic irrigation valve!).
John S. Mickman
President
John S. Mickman
President
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