Storms reach the Blackstone Valley from the west, and you can watch the sky over the mill roofs turn the color of wet slate a good hour before the first flake. Shine Construction, Inc. is loaded and staged by then — plow mounted, spreader full, the route laid out in order. Winter here means pushing snow, hauling it back off the pavement when the banks close in, opening walks, and treating the glaze that forms when a sunny afternoon gives way to a hard freeze. Local storms have a habit of arriving overnight and quitting right at commute time, so the last pass is often made in the dark, minutes ahead of the first car. Nothing looks more finished than a lot scraped down to black at six in the morning.