May in the White Mountains is the windy month: red dust off the back roads, last year's stalks rattling, the grass still deciding whether to wake. Then one warm week decides it, and Red Dirt Construction makes the first pass of the year — a low pass that takes the winter thatch down and lets sun reach the crowns. Raking out the mat, weed control before seedheads set, fertilizer timed to the greening, and a full haul-off of everything that comes up. There is a particular pleasure in that first mow: the yard goes from dun to green in an afternoon and stays that way. From there it settles into a steady schedule, mowed and edged, until the cold comes back around.