I barely slept last night. I am angry at the world right now. I spent good money to drain the pool before we left for a two-week trip to Iowa. It is cracked and needs repairs that I can only afford to do myself because the expense is more than I paid for my car. Even removing the pool will break my fragile little retirement budget.
Well, when I got back from Iowa, the city inspector showed up immediately to look at the progress I made with the pool. It had standing water in it. The danged weather dumped in almost as much as I had taken out before leaving. So I got a ticket. That I can pay for. But he decided I deserved no more time to work on the cracks. He filed a court case against me for the pool not being up to code. If I don’t have it fixed and running in 20 days, I am out more than 8 thousand. The city will come in and do the work with a contractor, taking the pool out, and charging me by placing a tax lean against the house. If I can’t fix the @#$%! pool and can’t get it done ahead of the hearing, I may end up losing the house.
Sorry. I am not feeling very funny today. The humor will come later because humor is how I heal. But I am mad at the world right now.
Catch a Falling Star 
Would it be possible to drain the water, break down the top sides of the pool, add a couple dump truck loads of dirt and top off with grass seed? My neighbor did this and was able to get the fill dirt free of charge from a housing developer. He had to get a permit but now he has a fine vegetable garden!
Good luck!
It’s a possibility I can look into. I really wanted to fix the pool, but the city is not patient enough for that. I wish I had enough money to get it taken care of, but health woes have drained all my resources.
So sorry you are going through this. I wonder if any could be covered by your insurance – if you have home insurance. I think you should think about going before the judge and appealing the ticket for rainwater. And ask if it’s possible to file a ‘Planned Non-operation’ for the pool for a reasonable amount of time so that you can save up for the repairs – or removal. After all, this is basically just a city tax on poverty which, if you are not actually using* the damaged pool, and do intend to fix it as finances allow, then your only actual ‘crime’ is not being rich. Ask him what’s the law# on that……
Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions. I will look into them.