The Connecticut River runs wide and slow past West Springfield, and on a January morning the mist off it hangs under the bridge while the city is still dark. Vineyard Landscaping is already out, blade down, taking driveways clear before the first car needs to move, shoveling the walks, throwing sand on the glazed spots near the water where damp settles first. Summer brings the other half of the ledger: mowing week by week, trimming, edging, mulch in the beds, clearing in spring and again in fall. A property looked after in both directions never gets that neglected stretch in between. West Springfield and the towns along the river.