Four in the morning on Abbot Road, and the streetlights are still the only thing awake. A-Plus Snow Plowing works that hour on purpose — driveways along East Lansing's older blocks opened up and squared off before the first car door slams, before anyone has to decide whether they can get to work. Mid-Michigan storms come in on a northwest wind and lay down more than they promise, so the crews go back for a second pass at the foot of the drive, where the street plow leaves its ridge. Walks get cleared to the concrete, not to the idea of it. By the time the coffee is on in the kitchens up and down the block, the day is simply possible again.