From the Chain Bridge on a January dusk you can watch the Merrimack carry ice down past Deer Island, and the cold that rides along with it settles over Newburyport like a lid. Foster Landscapes works under that lid. Plow trucks out on the residential loops, driveways taken from street to garage, the walk to the front step cleared wide enough for two people and an armload of groceries. Weather that blows in off the water leaves the dense wet snow that gets heavier by the hour, so timing counts as much as equipment. There is a plain pride in pulling away from a property knowing the people inside can leave whenever they like.