ivy revitalized

This is my English ivy monster.  The vines travel half-way across the room, and some have even developed suckers that stick to the wall as they make their way up to the ceiling.  It has been about 3 years since I repotted it.  Some of the leaves are developing a reddish tinge, and they are certainly becoming smaller.  A sign of nutrient deficiency.  The pot is so crowded that with every watering, it overflows and makes a mess.

The ivy has made its way right through the roof of this little weather house, and continued on for 10 feet to curl around the window.
Something had to be done.  I couldn't move the plant to repot it, so radical surgery was required.  I thought about making a few cuttings to start a new plant, but I haven't always had luck with that approach.  And I felt sorry for the main plant, which is only doing its job by growing so well.  So I cut off a huge ball of vines.  Cutting should be just below a leaf node, which will encourage branching.

I was left with a much shorter plant that I could actually carry outside, where with great difficulty I pried it out of the pot, loosened the roots, and tucked it into a bigger pot with fresh soil.  Unfortunately, I ran out of soil before the job was done, so the final picture will have to wait.
One job leads into the next.  Once the plant was gone, the shelf was revealed in all its dusty glory, with spilled soil mixing with dust and dead flies.  I spent an hour taking down and washing knick-knacks and shelves and vacuuming fallen leaves.