The Quinebaug drops hard through the middle of Putnam at Cargill Falls, and the sound of it carries up past the brick mills in any weather. A Nature's Link Landscaping works both halves of the year on either side of that water — mowing, trimming, edging and cleanups while the river runs low and warm, plowing, shoveling and salting when it's rimmed with ice. Mill-street driveways are narrow and unforgiving, and getting one open cleanly before the workday is a genuinely good feeling. So is the first cut of May, when the banks green up all at once. Putnam and its neighboring towns are the whole map for them.