The first real snow in Ray usually shows up in November, dusting the corn stubble and the fence lines and then melting off by noon — a rehearsal before the season means it. Thoms Bros. Landscaping, Inc. is ready by then, with snow removal set for driveways, parking lots, walkways and the ice that follows every thaw. Between here and Armada and Romeo the storms never fall evenly; one road takes four inches while the next gets a dusting, and the route has to bend to that. A drive opened clean to the edges, banks pushed well back, salt down before the refreeze — that is the shape of a good morning. Winter runs long in this township, and the whole point is making it easy to get through.