For all drivers out there already tired of sliding on icy roads, driving over bone jarring ruts or trying to remember if you should steer into or away from a skid, there's good and bad news. We're sure to have a white Christmas, just like the ones we use to know. The bad news is… hello, this is Maine. Hang the decorations, enjoy the eggnog, wax the skis and don't expect to see that thermometer spike above 30 degrees any time soon.

However, if you think you've got it bad, try walking a few nights in Wiscasset Road Commissioner Bob Blagden's well-insulated boots. Winter hasn't even started, and we have already had three plowable storms. He's the guy who is responsible to keep the roads clear, safe and available for shoppers to use at any and all times… almost. And guess what? He's not complaining.

Blagden and five employees work plowing, sanding and clearing, with one mechanic who works at the town garage making sure the machinery remains as ready as the staff for those all-night, all-out battles with the white stuff so many of us and our children enjoy.

"Everyone has been out on the roads non-stop since the last storm," Blagden said. "Last week we were in at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. to clear snow from town streets."

Blagden describes the latest of our storms as "brutal." He estimates that we had about eight inches of snow before it turned to rain, leaving the road surfaces bare briefly. With rain fast turning to freezing rain, roads morphed into skating rinks, desperately needing sand once again.

According to Blagden the state uses a mixture of calcium chloride and sand, but he questions how efficient its use would be on our town roads.

"It may clear the highways," he said, "but heavy traffic is an important part of the formula that makes it work."

Wiscasset used it at one time, but the trucks are no longer set up to dispense that mixture. Blagden also explains that you have to buy large quantities and have the storage facilities to keep the chemicals. "The mixture is disastrous when it gets on equipment and cars. It can turn them to junk quickly," Blagden said.

Wiscasset's weapon of choice is a mixture of salt and sand. As we talked, a town resident drove up to pick up sand for home use which the town offers free of charge at the town garage.

One fact of life in the far north is that even with sand on the roads, the warmer daytime temperatures causes melting which invariably freezes as a result of our character-building night temperatures and supports that frustrating experience of slip sliding away with the family car.

And road crews have more on their plate when snow comes a knockin' then just plowing snow and sanding. "We have to remove snow from the town roads to increase parking and visibility," Blagden said.

The town has a permit issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that allows them to dump snow they remove into the Sheepscot River at the end of the town pier.

But Blagden explains that the permit limits their dumping privileges to 72 hours from the time the snow stops. He has to mark down that time for state officials. Then the checkered flag is metaphorically waived and the bucket loaders start their engines.

About ten years ago when Maine Yankee was alive and well and living in Wiscasset, the Road Department had 16 employees and two mechanics.

Blagden has been in charge of fighting the good winter fight for the past three years. Not once today, did he complain about the lack of help, or the old equipment dating from the 1990's. He didn't even repeat that tired phrase about changing what we can change, accepting what we can't and having the wisdom to know the difference.

I suspect he figures that anyone old enough to have driven through Maine winters should be wise enough to know that what goes around will certainly come around every year and is part of life in this great state we call home.