Weather arrives in Stafford from the high ground first — Soapstone Mountain goes white while the village below is still only thinking about it. By the time a storm has worked its way down through the hemlocks of Shenipsit, the plow is already out, and the driveways along the ridge roads open one by one in the blue hour. There is real satisfaction in a sweep down to bare pavement, the banks pushed back square, the mailbox left standing where it was. Snow removal up here means reading the wind as much as the forecast, because drifts on an exposed hill never lie where the snow actually fell. Alpine Tree Co. LLC works those winter mornings so that Stafford can simply go about its day.