Surely you must remember this scene from the movie The Money Pit. Tom Hanks returns to the house after the remodelers’ first day to holes dug in the yard, the building ravaged, and mounds of dirt, gravel, and debris. “Those guys were work animals!” says the foreman. Until a few months ago, I thought that was just a scene in a movie.

Down the road is a dead shopping center. It’s been closed for so long that all that was left were the parking lots and hard-scrabble surfaces where the buildings once stood. It was a flat, level plot of land, its only feature a sign declaring the property, all 21 acres, for sale. In fact, it had been sold and bought some years ago. The new owner leveled all of the former buildings and began awaiting the necessary permits. Finally the wait was over. Progress was about to ensue.

Some months ago work began. In came the heavy equipment and they dug some holes and made some piles. Those included mounds and mounds of dirt, gravel, and debris. Work animals they were. I noticed last week that the big machines were gone. The holes were filled I guess with what made up the mounds of dirt and gravel which were now also gone. It is a flat, level plot of land, its only feature is a sign declaring the property, all 21 acres, sold and now the future site of … a shopping center.

Progress is ensuing.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?