Their sprinkler soaks the narrow path beside my house every morning. Is asking for a timer change too picky?

At 6:10 each morning, the sprinkler next door clicks on and sweeps across the narrow concrete path beside my house.

The spray lasts only about twelve minutes. By the time I leave for work, the concrete is still wet, the bottom of the wooden gate is dark with water and one corner stays slick under the shade. On mornings when I roll the recycling bin through, I either get sprayed or wait for the arc to pass like I am crossing a tiny automated border.

This would be funny if it had happened once. It has become a routine.

The sprinkler head sits a few feet inside my neighbor’s lawn. I can see that it is meant to cover the strip near the property line, but it rotates farther than the grass. A small adjustment might solve it. I have not touched it because it is not mine, and reaching over the low fence to re-aim someone else’s equipment feels more intrusive than the water.

The neighbors moved in this summer. We have exchanged names and not much else. They leave early, so I rarely catch them outside. I considered putting a note on their door, but “Your sprinkler is wetting my path” looks almost comically fussy on paper. Water outdoors is not an emergency.

Still, repeated minor inconvenience has a way of changing how I see every interaction. Yesterday their sprinkler hit me while I was carrying a clean bag of recycling, and I muttered something unneighborly to an empty yard. That is usually my sign that I should speak before annoyance writes the script.

I am not asking them to water less or change their landscaping. The simplest request may be to reduce the rotation a few degrees. If they cannot do that, changing the start time to later would at least keep it from overlapping with my morning trip through the gate.

My hesitation is partly about hierarchy. “Your property is affecting mine” sounds official; “could you adjust the sprinkler?” sounds normal. I want the normal version. I also do not want to exaggerate damage I cannot prove. The gate was old before they arrived, and the damp corner may be caused by shade as much as spray.

Would you knock on a weekend, leave a friendly note with your number, or wait until you see them outside? And would you ask for the timer change or the spray adjustment first?