Four in the morning near Exit 67 and the world narrows to two headlights, falling snow, and the sound of a blade finding pavement. Lombardo Landscaping runs its Barnegat routes in those hours, opening driveways, aprons and walkways and salting them while the township is still dark, so the first person out the door meets asphalt instead of a shovel. Storms here come off the ocean and cannot decide what they are — sleet, then rain, then a heavy inch an hour that sets up like mortar if it is left alone. That is why the trucks move early and come back around. The morning after is the measure of the work: a clear drive, a treated walk, and a driver who never had to think about it.