Come December the backyards around Lowell go quiet — patios swept bare, water shut down, everything under cover until May. That is when JLH Pools, Landscapes, and Outdoor Living picks up the plow work, running in the dark the same streets it knows by daylight. Snow moves inland here in long grey ribbons and can fill a driveway between midnight and the alarm clock. The truck cuts it open, pushes the apron back, gets the walk down to concrete, and the day starts on time. There is a plain pleasure in a lane opened clean while the village is still asleep.