whee! wasting water, hooray!
After much work and effort, and much help from Bill (who provided tools and engineering know-how, both of which I lack), the sprinkler system is working again! What a joy it is to watch the water pouring fourth, even though I know how expensive it is likely to be. I think it's worth it though: we've always wanted a home like in those magazines, and also Leah tells me she likes green grass. Since she didn't appreciate my suggestion of going to the other side of the fence, watering it had to be. It was kind of a debacle fixing it: we did many things that didn't work, and in the end we were suprised when our last attempt was a success; but I'm not going to knock anything that works!
Despite our best efforts, however, the clothes dryer remains broken, so I will continue to knock that. Knock, knock.