strange doings in town

the phoebe, guarding his nest, is making the cat-alert sound.
eventually an orange stripey one materializes from under the car
and saunters off past our garage leaving momentary silence.
which is when i notice the background noise, actually quite loud,
but so familiar to me from my childhood as to be of no interest - construction/destruction noises. the beep beep beep and crashing and wrenching.
something is being torn down.
oh yes, Jason's house. one block over
right by the brook, the river, the rushing tumbling frenzy
of rocks and ice-cold water cascading down the hills over rocks and ledges,
making waterfalls and swimming holes where generations have bruised their
numb blue feet and learned to swim.
a rich man, a very very very rich man,
has decided this ugly house should not rest beside and in fact own all this natural beauty.
Jason was raised in the house, and now raises his family there,
his parents have moved a few towns over.
he has site preparation experience and the contacts
and equipment needed to destroy his own house.
first he is demolishing the garage ... which was his father's livelihood years ago,
but burned to the ground, and we the neighbors all pitched in so he could rebuild.
sure it was ugly, but the river and falls were beautiful despite it, and they are good people.
happily, Jason and his family will still be in town. 
they're buying 70 acres of woods and meadow
and building themselves a log home.