Well, it snowed again last weekend. What did you expect? We live in Maine and it is winter. Duh!

We also live in communities like Wiscasset and Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport, Westport Island, Edgecomb, Dresden and Alna, where dedicated public workers cleared the roads so we could get to work, take the kids to school and to make it to the store for a loaf of bread and a jug of milk.

I know it is fashionable, in some political circles, to put down our public employees. Some claim they are lazy loafers, who just sit around sipping the milk of human kindness and pocketing our hard earned tax dollars.

Sometime before dawn the other morning, I heard a rumble on the street.

No one was up yet and I was tempted to pull the covers up to my chin and snooze for a bit more.

But no, I rolled out of bed and slid my feet into my faithful L.L.Bean slippers. Then it was down the stairs and into the kitchen, time to rustle up some coffee.

Again, there was the rumble again. I looked outside and saw a giant truck slowly move down the street in front of the house, the blade on the front of the bumper scraping the pavement, pushing the snow to the side.

It was a public employee, on the job long before I had to report for work. The worker was in the cab of that giant truck as it slowly rumbled down the street.

I know, I know, sometimes they leave a pile of snow in front of the driveway, and that is a bit unsettling. But on balance they do a pretty good job.

Especially two weeks ago when we had a huge blizzard that kept piling up. Beginning on Friday, the plowers were on the job hour after hour. By Sunday, we could go on about our business. On Monday, there was no excuse to stay home.

They repeated their performance last weekend.

I know it is a combination of good proper equipment and few roads.

But it still takes some dedicated folks to sit in the seat and wrestle the giant trucks hour after hour just so we can get out of our driveway and take the kids to school, show up on the job, or even sneak out to grab a few items from the grocery.

So from all the folks who waved as you passed their homes, all the folks that were able to make it to the store for a necessity or just something they probably could have done with out anyway, and even from any soreheads who “waved” after you left a pile of snow at the foot of their driveway, here is a thank you to our public employees.

To the public employees in Wiscasset, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb, Southport, Westport Island, Alna, Dresden and even a few state highway folks, thanks for clearing the roads. We appreciate your hard work. At least most of us do.