February gets into this township on a wind with nothing in its way: straight off the ice on Lake Erie, across the open fields, into every lot along North Dixie Highway. DFE Incorporated takes the dark end of those nights, plowing drives and parking areas so the first vehicle in at six finds pavement instead of a problem. Snow that reaches Monroe County is often the heavy, water-logged kind that sets like mortar by sunrise, which is why the blade drops early and comes back for a second pass. Walks are cleared down to the concrete and treated, because the sidewalk is where winter actually catches people. Nothing looks better at seven in the morning than a lot that could pass for a Tuesday in June while the sky is still throwing everything it has.