Madawaska keeps the longest winter in the state, and the St. John runs frozen past town while the fields toward the ridge lie under feet of white. Clean Slate Services plows into that — driveways, lots, and walkways opened after storms that stack one on the next from November clear through April. Banks get cut back early, because up here the piles left in December decide how much room there is come March. Then the ground finally shows, the valley greens almost overnight, and the same properties are mowed, trimmed, and cleaned up. A short summer and a long winter, both taken exactly as they come.