December mornings west of Alpena often begin in freezing fog, the marsh country toward Fletcher Pond gone soft and white, every cattail wearing rime. Environmental Excavating & Contracting Inc is out in it, running snow removal for driveways, private drives and commercial lots — plowing the fresh fall, breaking the crust a thaw-and-refreeze leaves behind, laying salt or sand where a slope needs it. Lake Huron keeps feeding the sky here, so the work is less one big push than a season-long back-and-forth with the weather. Piles get placed with April in mind, away from anywhere meltwater would go looking for a basement. When the fog lifts, the pavement is black and the day can start.