A county office in January has one job before it has any other: let people in the door. Delta County Child Support Services takes care of its own snow — the lot, the ramp, the walk from the parking stall to the entry — so that eight o'clock arrives with the ground already clear. Delta does not get buried often, but it gets a slick two inches at the wrong hour more than anyone would like, and that is exactly the morning when somebody has an appointment they cannot reschedule. So the shovels come out early, and the pale blue light before sunrise is the only witness. It is not glamorous work. It is simply the difference between a door that is open and a door that only looks open.