Backyard - 1 month later

So, I hinted in my earlier post about the backyard (see it here) that we had a lot going on in the backyard.  There have been an immense number of man-hours put into cleaning up both the front and the back of the house.  My family hauled away 4 trailer loads of debris and it's perhaps about halfway finished.  I thought I would share the progress.

Panoramic Before:

Panoramic After:

The sunset wasn't quite as magnificent, and my angle was a bit off, but I think the progress is pretty clear.  Here are some single shots of the main planting area there in the center of the yard by the water:

Before:

After:

There was poison ivy in that madness that was (no kidding) 6 inches across on the vine.  There is still some poison ivy in there, but we're trying to kill it with spray instead of pulling.  Luckily, so far I've only managed a small area of it.  The downside was that small area happened to be on my face.  Oh well, can't win them all.

Have you ever faced down poison ivy?  Any tips, besides don't burn it, or touch it...or take a hot bath after contact with it?