The first flakes of the year usually show up over Jewett City's brick mill blocks, drifting down toward the Quinebaug in the streetlight. EZ Construction takes its snow work in that same borough grain — tight driveways between houses, short aprons that open straight onto the street, walks that have to be cleared without burying the neighbor's. The truck rolls out while the town is still deciding whether the storm is serious. What comes back is a set of properties where the pavement is visible, the corners are cut square, and the ice at the foot of the steps has been dealt with. Winters here are long enough that this counts as a kindness.