On the first hard frost of the fall every Clifton lawn goes silver before sunrise, and footprints stay in it until the sun finally clears the valley rim. Veteran and Patriot Landscaping LLC is out in those early hours, waiting on the grass to dry enough to cut, then working the route without wasted motion: mow, edge, trim, blow clean, gone. There is something plainly good about a yard finished before most of the street is awake. Straight lines, square corners, nothing left loose on the concrete. Clifton looks its best in that first hour of light, and so does a lawn that has just been done.