Kerby's Backhoe Service

About Kerby's Backhoe Service

Snow arrives in Benzie County off the big lake, band after band, until the banks along the Betsie valley stand higher than a truck hood. Kerby's Backhoe Service takes on the drives and yards where that snow has run out of room to go — pushing it back, stacking it clear of the turnaround, opening the wide approaches a plow blade alone cannot manage. The work happens in the dark, mostly, headlights swinging across a field of untouched white. There is a particular pleasure in the moment the last pile is set and the pavement shows black and open all the way to the road. By morning, when Beulah wakes under another foot, the way out is already there.