Up toward the Boxford line, where Middleton's open ground runs out into the woods around Bald Hill, October shows up all at once and lands on the lawns. M & M Tree Services Inc spends those short afternoons in the leaves — mowing what still asks for it, blowing out the beds and fence lines, hauling off the drifts of red and gold that will smother grass if they are left to overwinter on top of it. There is a moment in every fall cleanup when the yard suddenly reappears: green, combed, the whole season's color piled tidy at the curb. Then the low sun slants through bare limbs and the property looks twice the size it did that morning. That part of the work only comes around once a year, which is exactly why it is worth doing well.