if it ain't one thing, it's another (STONES)

It seems to me that problems - major or minor - seem to travel together.  Likewise, when you are having a good day, everything seems to work out - even hitting all the traffic lights green.  It leads me to wonder if we don't cause many of our own problems by our attitudes and, you might say, we go looking for trouble.   I think that I don't.  But, then, why?
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Stone #1:  To mow my lawn, I AM RETIRED, I try to stretch it out to 3 days...sometimes 4.  First there is the hand push mower.  What a beauty it is.  Electric start, John Deere, runs like a top. Hand mow on the first day.  Second day, the riding mower:  me precious John Deere riding tractor mower.  The 3rd day rolls around, weed-eat time.  This machine is nicknamed "The Terminator." It rambles through weeds and the like with ease.  My yard is not so enormous as some folks have, but it is .85 acres of which the house takes up a portion.  I find that weed eating the front and fenced-in back yard pretty much does me in.  The next day (#4 if you are keeping count) takes care of the outlying areas and the lake front and the potential snake habitats.  I loathe that area. So, 4 days it is.
    On Tuesday, day 1, I hand mowed.  Takes about an hour to get what I want done.  On the back wall, my final couple of passes till stop time, the mower grabs a water sprinkler and pulls it out of the ground embedding the sprinkler firmly in the blade housing.  I could not pull it out and hold the mower at the proper angle.  My wife was out on her morning walk.  I sat and waited for her return. This was not bad since I moved into the air cond.  Upon return I had her stand on the handle as I climbed underneath and used a channel lock to disengage the shattered sprinkler.   Sigh.
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#2  Naturally when you have a sprinkler destroyed, it must be replaced.  I know nothing about sprinkler systems. . . still learning.  I need a book "Dummies Guide to Sprinkler Systems." I could call the installer to come fix it.  Yeah, like that will work.  I have called him 3 times about other problems and no See-Eeee...or is it See-Um?  Either, I have it figured out.  I am on my own for fixing these.  Sure, I have a year guarantee on the sprinklers, but if he won't show up, what's the 2nd choice?  Do it yourself.
      The wife and I were planning a trip to town anyway, so buying another sprinkler head was added to the list.  Back to the yard.
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#3  Destroyed part removed.  Restarted the mower.  It seems to have had another problem.   The device to raise/lower the wheels has been moved.  Later, I figure out, that this happened prior to my close encounter with the first sprinkler.  I start to finish my mowing  [ (I just love what I wrote) "I start to finish..." How cute is that?  Sometimes I think I should just hide myself, I am so cute. ]  
      The mower moved forward a few feet and sank into a hole.  Wham!  I hit the next sprinkler. This would never have happened if the wheels had not moved.  Lemme explain.  I do love my mower.  The wheels are adjustable up and down.  But, they move on their own all da time.  I am going to wire the wheel handle closed.  Too many problems. This sprinkler was not destroyed, just damaged a bit.  Moving On.  
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#4  We headed to town.  Our town trip uses U.S. Hwy 287.  They have decided to work on 287.  Sealing it and putting down gravel.   I came over a hill and there was a truck looming ahead. Traffic was stopped.  Highway dept. decided that 287 was now a one lane road with the other side having the right of way.   We sat on the hwy for a good 10 minutes waiting for our side to move.  The car line was so long it was out of sight in front and back.  Not a good morning to travel 287.
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This is becoming too long - so I'll summarize. 
1.  got part.
2.  came home and dug up sprinklerS.
3.  discovered I needed a 2 inch nipple pipe to connect sprinklers.
4.  Put it off till next day.
5.  Next day arrived.  Decided to take Marauder since it had not been driven in 2 weeks.  
6.  Took cover off car.   Climbed in.
7.   The inside rear view mirror is hanging down.  The glue has released the mirror.
8.  Drove to town.   Work on 287 has moved; but, still found me.  Sat for 10 minutes.
9.  Did necessaries in town.  I decided to take a different route home which would miss the roadwork.   Did That.   While I was in town, they moved the roadwork - sat for 10 minutes waiting.
I am not going on with this.
Fixed sprinkler - got home - have glued mirror back on - still have not finished mowing.
Tomorrow ???
m
p.s. when I first started writing this, I was uptight.  Things are better now; that was 3 days ago.