The first true cut of the year in Stickney comes in April, when the ground finally lets go of winter and the whole village smells like wet turf and warming brick. H & B lawn service inc. begins the season there — clearing out what winter left behind, then mowing, trimming and edging on a steady weekly line all the way to the last of October. Yards near Home Avenue are modest in size and unforgiving in appearance; a missed strip or a ragged edge is visible from the sidewalk. So the work goes in overlapping passes, corners included, walks blown clear each time. Spring here is short and sudden, and it rewards anyone ready for it.