Bennett's Backyard

About Bennett's Backyard

Winter in northern York County often arrives sideways: cold air dams up against the ridge north of the township and turns what should have been a soft snow into a glaze on every driveway from here to Wellsville. Bennett's Backyard is out in that — plowing, shoveling walks and steps, and laying salt down where ice wants to take hold. Four in the morning, headlights full of falling flakes, the scrape and the turn at the end of a driveway; by the time a house wakes up, the way out is open. Lanes and lots get cleared before first light, and the banks are pushed where they will not block anyone's view backing into the road. Nothing about a storm is convenient, but a cleared drive hands a person their morning back.