The Plow Guy

November 19, 2008 by Ellen Stimson in Good Neighbors, Vermont. New England, Wintertime


Winter has come knocking at our door again. I know for sure because the temperature was in the teens which is a good first sign. But the real way I know is that the plow guy came and set the snow posts along our lane and the driveway. If you live in the south you may not ever have to know what a snow post does. What it is, is about a four foot high wooden stick that a really big burly guy wearing a filed coat sticks into the ground along your plow route at regular intervals. He uses some kind of tool to make a hole and some other mallet thing to give it a whack so it sits snugly in the hole he has made. And what it does, is mark the route for him when the snow is falling and there are two foot drifts obliterating the driveway. These things are a staple in Vermont. By March we will have run over a couple of them, and the wind will have taken out a couple more. But in November they all come and stand silent sentry waiting to do their work.
We live on a curvy hill road that doesn’t get any town services so we have to hire our own plow service. These are the guys who sell us beautiful nursery plants in the summer and Christmas trees in December. They take care of lawns and watch houses for the second home owners, and they keep us all moving in the winter. Now it often snows a little bit every day up here when this thing gets into full swing. So of course they have a plan. They come when there are about three inches on the ground and they they come again every three or four hours until it stops. During the big winter storms which usually start in the afternoon and continue deep into the night, they fill up their thermoses and sometimes never get to bed starting another round just after finishing their first. There is often a little something in the mug with the coffee. But they are practically alone out there, and their trucks weigh about a ton, so they are pretty safe. Maybe your lane has a bit of a curve in the snow that wasn’t there before, but only when it has been snowing all night and who could blame the guy all alone with nothing but his Ipod, maybe a dog asleep on the seat beside him, and the occasional coyote or red fox?

These guys have big hearts. A few weeks ago the signs went up in the Post Office. There are long walls covered with butcher paper and pens hanging by a string alongside. The sign next to the blank paper says “Please sign up if you or someone you know needs plowing this winter” Then there is a place for a name and an address. A week or so later someone draws calendar boxes underneath each name and address. The boxes say Nov 1-Nov 15, Nov 15-Nov 30 and on through the end of April. Then after another few days the plow guys come in and sign up for various weeks and various addresses until the whole thing is full. Once it has been full for another week or so somebody takes it down, because now it is in the hands of the guys. So if you have a ninety year old neighbor you sign her up and she only every knows that her road gets plowed. She doesn’t know who signed her up or does the plowing and she never gets a bill. The idea is anonymity for anyone who prefers it. But a lot of these folks will wander out and meet their plow guy. And our guy, Kevin tells us that his old folks keep him in a steady supply of thermoses filled with soup, and bags of cookies and at least one older gentlemen often tosses a full bottle of scotch through his window. Since the plow guys often bring along their truck dog, the dogs get soup bones and pigs ears to keep them happy too.

You don’t have to be old to qualify either. If you are out of work or just down on your luck, you sign yourself up and nobody ever says a word. Some of us add a little extra onto our payments every month to cover our neighbors who need the help and anyway some of the extra gas costs the plow guys take on. And we know that if we ever get into trouble those same neighbors, even the ones with whom we have had long rancorous land disputes, (which are as common up here as snow, but that’s another story), will chip in and cover us. November is dark and the coming winter will be long. But by golly New Englanders are a hardy bunch and we take care of our own.

Oh and God bless those plow guys. Long may they drive….

    Comments

  • Texan Mama @ Who Put Me In Charge


    E- your writing skills never fail to amaze me. I love your beautiful description of New England winter and its lovely inhabitants. Sounds like you live in a wonderful “small town” like the kind where I wish I lived.

  • abigail mae hudson


    My husband was a “plow guy” here in Maine for many years. I would get up and fill his thermos, and when he would get home he would have another two or three for me to wash and him to leave by a kitchen door on some other snowy night.
    Sometimes I would build a fire and watch the snow and wait for him by the window where I would fall asleep. Then our dogs would start barking and I would hear the sound of his wheels on our road and we would go back upstairs for a little while together until it was time for him to go back out.
    Thank you for this memory my dear.

  • drew


    This was another good story well told, Thanks e

  • Kate


    This makes me want to be a plow guy. Or at least the pretty girl at the end of the driveway with a hot cup of coffee and a smile early in the morning.

  • laurwilk


    Ahh. It sounds lovely. It makes me want to grow up immediately so I can stop doing, achieving and learning and maybe just BE for a bit.

    I miss the simplicity of the country more than I ever would have thought possible!

    Enjoy the snow! We had flurries in the city yesterday morning but they didn’t last long. I love snow!

  • Kellan


    I had never heard of the plow sticks – very interesting. I keep hearing about all the snow everywhere – I’m so jealous.

    Stay warm and take care – Kellan

  • library lady


    As you well know, we don’t often get much snow, but last year we had one memorable blizzard that started while I was at work. and though they let us out very early, it was the hardest driving I have ever done and I was a wreck by the time I got home. I huddled under a ton of blankets and fell asleep for an hour or two and when I woke up, the snow was mostly done. I struggled into my boots and gloves and opened the garage door to shovel out a path and clear off my car, only to discover that while I was asleep, someone had plowed my driveway and cleaned off my car. God bless plow guys!

  • TheCynicalOptimist


    Wow. that is great that they do that!! Great post as always!! So vivid!

  • Anonymous


    land disputes?

  • jamie


    Every winter I hope for a major storm so they will cancel work. It doesn’t happen much, but there is nothing better than being snow bound with great books, movies and lots of hot tea…I love the snow.

  • painted maypole


    that is really touching

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