Snow finds the wide-open ground first around Pekin — the industrial drives, the gravel yards, the long approaches out toward the bottomland where nothing slows the wind. David Burling Excavating turns to snow work when the year turns, pushing back what falls and stacking it where it will not be in the way on Monday. Heavy equipment earns its keep at three in the morning, in the dark and the cold, well ahead of the first shift. The measure of the job is simple: an entrance a truck can take at speed, and a lot with room left to park in. Winters here have weight to them, and the ground still has to be usable in the morning.