Eddie and Sons Fence Building

About Eddie and Sons Fence Building

Up in Backus Township, in the pine-and-lake country of Roscommon County, winter likes to arrive overnight and then stay put until spring. Eddie and Sons Fence Building takes its name from the fence line, but in the deep-cold months its work is snow: plowing drives and clearing paths so the cars can find the road again. There is a particular satisfaction in a straight plowed edge along a long rural drive, the same satisfaction as a post set true and plumb. Mailbox dug out, the turnaround opened wide, the walk to the woodpile passable: the small geometry that makes a north-country winter livable. By morning the tire tracks lead out cleanly while the pines stand heavy and silent on either side.