Three in the morning at the operations yard, and the lot lights are the only warm thing in Calhoun County. Plows drop. Salt goes in. Trucks pull out one behind the other toward drives and lots across Battle Creek while the city is still asleep under the storm. This yard is where the snow work is staged and where it ends, when the last route closes somewhere around first light. Nobody sees the yard; they see an open driveway and get on with their day, which is exactly the trade.