A nor'easter reaches Stamford from the water first: the Sound goes flat gray, the wind swings around to the northeast, and an hour later the streets off Pepper Ridge Road are filling in. Pepper Ridge Landscaping works that half of the calendar — plowing driveways and lots, shoveling walks and steps, clearing entrances and spreading salt while the storm is still coming down. The point is simply that a place stays usable: the car gets out, the mail gets in, and nobody has to test a slope in the dark. Coastal snow here is heavy and wet, the sort that sets like concrete if it's left alone, so timing matters more than muscle. The hour worth having is the last one, when the wind drops and every drive on the route is open.