Tried to fix a leaky faucet and flooded my kitchen instead" sounds like you skipped a step. I actually think most of these "disasters" are people getting impatient and not shutting off the right valves before they start. If you snapped a valve handle off, that's not a faucet problem, that's you not checking if the valve was crusty first. Take five minutes to inspect everything before you touch it and walk away if it looks bad. I've swapped out a dozen cartridges in old houses and never flooded a room because I turn the water off at the street or the main if the local valves feel sketchy. Fixing your own stuff is fine, but blaming the plumbing for your own rush job is just shifting responsibility. Maybe next time do a dry run with the water off before you go all amateur plumber.

Man that's a rough one. Stumps hidden under powder are the worst, you think you're fine and then bam, you're pulling out a credit card for a new track. Six hours in an unheated garage sounds brutal too, my fingers get cold just thinking about it. I had a similar thing happen last year with a rock that was barely sticking out, tore up my rails too, not just the track. It's always the stuff you can't see that gets you, feels like the snow is just a big trap sometimes.