Isn't Home Ownership Fun?

So, this weekend, it appears that I get to be Mr. Landscaper. See, I have in ground sprinklers in my back yard, to take care of keeping the backyard grass alive. Last weekend, I noticed that when the sprinklers went off, one of them was shooting a stream of water straight up in the air ~ 20ft. Closer examination of the "pop up" sprinkler, revealed the sprinkler body was cracked. No problem, screw out the old body, remove the height riser from the old, screw it into the new, and screw the new body back into the underground pipe, done deal, right? 2 nights ago, when I was double checking the "water throw" distance of the new sprinkler, a second water jet sprung up in the middle of the lawn. Unfortunately, this one appears to have broken off at the riser. For those unaware, you can cut the riser to different lengths, and it is what is used to adjust the height of the sprinkler above ground. As best as I can tell, with a flashlight, there is still a piece of the riser jammed in the pipe connecter, and I can't reach down far enough with the needle nose pliers to get at it. Anyone here is Az knows what that means….. you have to dig. Hopefully, I can peel back the sod in one piece, dig down about 1 ft, and maybe needle nose out the riser pieces then, otherwise I'll have to cut and splice a new piece in (more digging). Sounds like fun huh? Did I mention I also noticed a leak in the front yard dribble system underground pipe? That's a digging situation too. I so remember living in apartments in NYC, where if something was wrong, you picked up the phone, and it got fixed. SIGH, I can say, that after owning the house now for 9 years, I sometimes long for those days of easy maintenance, and no bother, non-home ownership……….. PSYCHE….. I almost had ya there for a second, eh? Anyway, I hope that YOU all have a fun weekend :-)