Three in the morning, a parking lot lit orange, snow coming down through the cones of the lamp poles. Grounds Group is out there in Vernon stacking windrows along the far curb, cutting the lanes open, clearing the sidewalks where boots will land at seven. Nobody applauds for it; the reward is a property that simply works when the town wakes up. Storms here arrive with the whole night to work with, so the plan gets made before the first flake lands. Lanes open, walks bare, salt down at every door.