There is a fortnight in Gardner when the year can't decide — the last cut of the season still greening the yards while the first frost silvers the uplands at dawn. Rivas Edge works both sides of that turn, easing the mower back into the shed just as the plow blade comes forward. Through the warm months they keep the lawns trim and even along these old chair-city streets, the cut grass sweet in the north-county air; when the snow banks up off the Wachusett ridges, they open the drives before the coffee goes cold. It is steady work that leaves a place looking tended — one clean stripe drawn across a yard, a driveway cleared to bare pavement while the hills stay white. Across Gardner and the towns that ring it, the ground keeps its season because someone stays to mind the change.