Snow rarely falls straight down out here. It comes sideways off the open ground west of Decatur, and a driveway swept clean at midnight can be under a knee-high drift by four in the morning while the wind keeps rebuilding it. Rice's Mowing Services & Snow Removal works exactly those hours, plowing and clearing drives, lots and walks so the first cars of the day find pavement instead of a wall. There is a particular quiet to a February pre-dawn in Macon County — the scrape of the blade, the orange light turning, the fields going pale blue before sunrise. Then the sun comes up over frozen stubble, the driveway is black and wet and open, and the day can start on time.