Love Letter to a Chelan County Snow Plow Driver

Garbage Pickup

Thursdays in our neighborhood are trash day. Every week we put out the can by the street and every other week we put out the blue recycling container too.
Last week was one of those nasty wintry days where every homeowner is struggling with the snowblower to keep up with the new snow and the county has its plows running a full court press.
Unlike New York City or Seattle who have been in the press lately because of their inability for public works and road departments to handle even the smallest snowstorm, Chelan County does a great job with snow removal. On the state highways, the local WSDOT plow drivers are pretty amazing too.
So back to trash day.
When the plows are running and you have to put your trash out it’s a delicate dance between protecting your cans from the plow and not hiding them so much that the garbage truck misses them. Last week I watched with eager anticipation as the plow driver maneuvered his blade within inches if not centimeters away from our cans while maintaining the regulation speed about 5 miles above the speed limit.
 His aim was not so true when it came to our neighbor’s can.  The impact of the snowplow blade sent his can into a flying retreat.
What happened next was the real surprise.
The plow truck stopped at the end of the block. It put on its hazard lights and began backing up.  It pulled up to my neighbor’s house, the driver popped out and fixed the garbage can that he had knocked over.
Color me impressed.
Take a moment to thank a plow driver for me if you can, these folks are the unsung heroes of winter in this part of the world.