Enfield lies along the long blue length of Mascoma Lake, where Route 4 hugs the shore and the hardwood hills climb up fast on either side, granite close beneath the grass. Hess' Property Services works that Upper Valley ground the whole year through — mowing lawns and open fields, laying sod and hydroseed, spreading bark mulch, tending planting beds and seasonal floral displays, setting in trees and shrubs or taking them out, and building the patios, walkways and retaining walls that give a sloping yard somewhere to rest its weight. They grade driveways, sweep parking lots, handle excavation, weed control and material delivery, and caretake residential and commercial properties for owners who cannot always be there. When the lake goes gray and stiffens, the work turns to plowing, snow removal, sanding and salting: the drive opened while the water is still dark, the walkway scattered and sure underfoot. From Sunapee, New Hampshire to Bradford, Vermont, the satisfaction is the same one — a crisp edge, a surface that holds, a piece of ground that plainly looks after.