Two in the morning, and the storm is still west of Clawson — a clipper sliding in over flat country with the temperature already falling. Bulk Rock Salt 24 Hours keeps its hours in exactly that window: bulk rock salt loaded out by the yard or the bag, de-icing material moved before the first flakes reach 14 Mile Road, drives and lots cleared and salted while the city sleeps. Winter around here is not dramatic so much as relentless, one gray system after another coming off the lakes. The payoff arrives at six, when a black driveway steams under a streetlight and a whole street of people leaves for work without giving the pavement a second thought. Being the reason nobody had to think about it is the entire job.