Out past the edge of Chillicothe the drives get long — gravel lanes running back between fields toward Edelstein and Hallock, the kind of ground that laughs at a shovel. River City Septic & Excavating brings the iron to it, plowing lanes and lots, opening turnarounds, salting where ice takes hold at the gate and the apron. A farm lane cleared before the first truck rolls out, a working yard scraped before the crews arrive: that is a winter morning well spent. Snow up this way drifts more than it falls, so half the job is deciding where the piles go and half is moving them there. When it comes down through the night, that is when the day begins.