There are many "ifs" in this situation. How large was the above ground pool and was it in the place for a long time and was it lifted in the fall, put back in the summer. What was the ground like before the pool was constructed...grass, bare ground, was it used heavily for foot traffic. The ground, if it was used as a lawn, chances are it had a reasonable amount of goodness to the soil...and grass can grow again without too much trouble. If it was bare ground, chances are it was neglected, the rain ran away from it, absorption did not happen very much and otherwise the area was more waste than grass. In this case, you will have to dig it up, add some organic matter, improve it to want to grow grass. If it was in an area where foot traffic was heavy, chances are the area of ground is heavily compacted. Again, it needs to be either aerated (by a machine) or dug up, improved and grass tried to grow. There are two methods of growing a lawn....put down sod, or seed. With seed, you should find out what type grass you have now in the outlining areas. How is that area growing. An overseeding might be thought of. Sod, while more expensive, is the fast way and it can be done NOW...you'll have a lawn that you can walk on in about two weeks. With seed, its too late....the soil temperature says seed wont germinate and you'll have to wait until spring. It can come down to how large is the area to be sodded. Sod pieces generally can be had for about $3.00 or less for ?? It depends on how large sod pieces come in your particular area....call up a sod provider and ask how much he charges and then plan on using the family car to go get it. A car's trunk can reasonably carry about 15 - 22, 25 sod pieces. Let's assume a sod piece is 2 ft by 6 feet...12 square feet. Just measure the area that needs repairing and figure how many sod pieces would be necessary....add a couple for insurance. The area should be given some new soil in any case...if you add some organic matter, dig up at least 6" - 8" down...and churn it in with a rented rototiller...use one that you can handle...don't need a big machine...as long as it can dig the tines in to start, the rest will follow. If you use peat moss to amend your soil, be sure to wet it first with hot water...peat moss will absorb warm water but will reject cold water; so the mixing in with the soil will be much easier if you sprinkle with hot water the peat before adding. If you use hay or straw as an amendment, be sure its OLD --new straw (hay) has seeds in it and it will give you a barnyard instead of a lawn if you use it fresh. To measure how much soil you might need to improve the ground there....measure the area...if it was a round pool, simple measure across the diameter, divide by 2...gives you the radius and then use the old standby...pi R squared. pi meaning 3.1428...X R..radius X itself. example: if the pool was 24' across...half is 12'...X 12 X pi....3.14 X 12 X 12...= approx 450 sq feet. If you were to put down 4" of topsoil or compost you would then multiply the square footage X 4 (inches) = 1800...which you multiply by 3...= 5400 and dvide by 1000...move the decimal 3 places to the left..giving you exactly 5.4 cubic yards of soil to purchase. If the pool area was less or you wish to use less soil just replace the figures but do the math the same way. If the pool was in rectangular form, just use the same method...length X width in feet, giving you square footage...times the depth of soil (in inches)...multiply by 3 and divide by 1000.... If the area is in pretty good shape, then maybe it doesn't need cultivating but can be reliably raked hard to raise furrows before putting down sod. In any case, look to the drainage so that when you grow grass it will not become a sotted mess....make sure the water rans away from the house and can easily be absorbed into the ground. The sod provider can give you instructions on what you must do to bring the sod along and don't get antsy and want to mow it too soon...its late now. sod can still be put down but let any mowing wait until spring....you mower should be just about ready to be put to bed for the winter anyway. But again SOD can still be put down even at this date.

Helen I think you're right about my mystery flowers being Spring Beauty. Thank you! If I planted that, I've forgotten. I planted Jane five years ago and I'd guess that it's 6 to 8 feet tall now and still not blooming heavy enough to call it showy. It gets some competition from a Tulip tree so it might be doing better by now if it was planted in a better spot. I'm ashamed - I finally broke down and bought the Canon that has a 50x zoom lol. I got a good deal on it. Best Buy matches some dot com prices now. Amazon is one and they had the lowest price so I showed them that price at the register at Best Buy and they matched it. I also had reward zone bucks to take off of the price plus another 20 for applying for a BB charge card back before Christmas so it got the price down to 340. That's more than I intended to spend but I still had some Santa cash and I "needed" a good camera. : ) It seems to be working great for macro or zooming either one, but if the camera is zoomed all the way out, it's difficult to keep the subject centered. If you move the camera even a little, you've lost sight of it. I haven't messed around with macro much yet but this one is of buds on my Mohawk viburnum and the lens was very close. I need to try it out on some bugs or butterflies.

Good morning to you all, It is supposed to get a little cooler later in the day, so I got my walk in early. My DS sent me one of those forwards about walking the other day. One said "I walk before my brain wakes up and says'what are you doing?'" I emailed her back and said I had til noon! It is much better for me to walk early if I can. Later I think of better excuses not to. :) I'm not too discouraged but trying hard to watch my food and walking and I still gained 3/4 of a lb. last week. I guess I'm still paying for previous eating or I know about building muscle but believe me I haven't had time to do that. I'm going to KOKO and there is always next week. Until someone makes the 'magic pill' I will have to just keep working at it. Hope DH and I will be able to get in the yard some this weekend. It is looking more and more like spring is on the way. Hope everyone has a great weekend. KOKO Sally

Deanna, We're ok down here in FL...at least for now. @:) As I watched the kayaking during the Olympics, I thought about you and can't imagine doing that! My hat's off to you girl! Sally, Sorry about your week of blah but hope it's getting better. Don't rush getting back into anything strenuous until your cough is gone. Don't want a big set back! Yeah, you don't want to stir up the dust...I don't either! Cute wallhanging you made for your sister! I like the button jar. I'm glad Salijo has joined, too....only thing is, I have to be good now. @:) Salijo, If I had been at the reunion, they could have gotten a 5 generation picture....did you think about Aunt Elaine being my proxy? She would have loved that! I'm glad y'all were able to be there. You know everytime the phone rings tomorrow, I'll be running to answer it! Yep, after the Blueberry Festival, you can get your table cleared off and set it up for sewing. You could probably pull the seat part of gramma's cabinet over and use that for sitting on. Do you have a pattern? I have a thought in the back of my head for sewing triangles so you don't lose any fabric but is easier that cutting separately and then sewing....I'll have to think about it and maybe I'll remember what it is. I'm missing the Blueberry Festival this year! You girls won't believe what my 2 DD's did to me last year! When I came back from using the restroom, they had been to the place where lost kids are reported and had gotten a bracelet they wanted me to wear. "If found, please call Wendy at ####### or return to Booth #...." Guess I should have told them where I was going. We always had fun..gonna miss the fudge. I just sat a read Fearless Fourteen today! DD#3 was here all day today with her surgery being yesterday. Tomorrow I think I'll do some sewing. I have a Christmas tree that's supposed to look like you're looking at it through a window. I've had the blocks done for awhile, but kept changing the color of the panes. I finally just went with white to look like snow. I'd like to get it together enough to take on the retreat and at least finish the top. Guess I better sign off for now......looks like I'm starting to write a book! SharonG/FL