A clipper crosses the state overnight, and by the time it reaches the crossroads at Seven Mile and Merriman, Livonia's whole grid is drawn in white. AvSnow works that map through the dark — plowing driveways, opening walks, and cutting the hard ridge the city truck leaves at the end of every apron. Winter here is less about one great storm than about a dozen ordinary ones, three inches at a time, from December straight through March. The real measure of the job is whether a household ever has to change its plans. Push the snow back far enough, early enough, and the answer stays no.