When we bought our house many moons ago, there was a huge above-ground swimming pool in the corner of the backyard.

It wasn't on our wish list. We just considered it a bonus. That was before many dollars and hours spent trying to keep it clean. Hubby liked it, though. Once he got done mowing the lawn, a nice swim afterwards was just the thing to revive himself.

Then the liner tore.

Not up at the top and not just one rip. Multiple rips in the bottom.

Uh-oh.

Not being in a position at the time to make repairs or replace it, we had to leave it be. Over the winter. Well, the next three winters to be exact. Fortunately, some resourceful soul saw it and volunteered to take it away. He had a liner, but the side walls on his pool were damaged.

Hallelujah and have at it!

Now we were left with an 18 foot chemical-laced circle of sand to deal with. Hmmm, what to do, what to do...

A garden was my first thought, but the chemicals that had leaked put the brakes on that plan. So, I decided on a sort of patio. The sand actually made a nice base underfoot. I covered the entire area with a double layer (criss-crossed) of landscaping fabric to keep out weeds. Then came bags and bags and bags and bags of cypress mulch.

At the center, I placed four one foot tiles together to form a solid, fire-proof base for the cast iron fire pit. Hubby was delighted with this development, by the way. He likes fires way more than swimming, plus it has the added benefit of being an option for cooking. I'll have to do some digging to see if I have pictures of the area then.

Due to recent health issues for both hubby and I, though, we've had another three year stretch where the neglect is very evident. It didn't help that we pretty much covered the whole thing over in cuttings taken from along the back fence a few years ago. We had work done to the sewer line hookup to the main city drain in the alley. The elbow had disintegrated! We had to prep in case the fence needed to be moved. (It didn't, but what a mess!) That's what it's been like ever since.

Except for the rose vines that found an excellent scaffold to use. Sigh...

This is basically what it looks like today. When I started, the entire circle was engulfed and the rose vines were taller than me.

This is the part I've been pecking away at. It's hard to tell, but I've got three different piles going. The foreground is dry, burnables. Just behind, on a (hard to see) large, cut open trash bag are the disposables. They'll eventually be put out for the city to pick up. And, then, on the other side of the cart is the fresh cuttings pile. These will become burnable in time.

Yesterday, I finally managed to free the actual fire pit! THAT felt really great and was a very visible sign of progress. The rose vines had rooted in the pit & were growing out of a hole in screen cover. This was the one that was making it's way up the (now cut back) tree next to the pit and towered over me. I think I heard it growl a couple times.

Today's goal was to keep cutting back the rose vines and make the other brush accessible, plus move some more buckets* out of the way. I got more done than I planned, because the root system has formed a mat under the old landscape fabric. I can peel up clumps at one go, but it's not easy. I had to get a second disposal pile started to handle it all.

Yay! More progress! I managed to move three buckets and clear another sizable chunk of the space. I'm going to tackle another piece tomorrow and possibly finish up. Well, at least finish the obvious overgrowth. Then, it will be on to fine-tuning everything to get it comfy again.

*Oh, and the buckets? They're remnants of our container garden and our work-around to avoid the afore-mentioned chemical issue. Hubby was a new construction painter back then, so we had access to as many free buckets as we wanted. I'll be (hopefully) getting them back in action soon.

Stayed tuned for the next installment!

Upvote, ReSteem,

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!