The Piscataquog comes in from the west and drops through Kelley Falls before it joins the Merrimack, and the streets on that bank climb away from the water in long sloped yards. C & J Landscaping cuts those slopes all summer — mowing, trimming, tidying beds and walks — and returns in winter to push snow off the same driveways, now steep and slick and wanting salt at the top. Spring on the west side arrives late in the shade and early in the open, so no two properties are ready the same week. There's a particular pleasure in a fall cleanup finished just ahead of the first hard freeze, everything raked and carried off and the yard sitting quiet. Then the forecast turns, and the plow gets hitched.