East Orange sits on the long slope that runs down toward Newark, and a winter storm here shows up as wind first, then hours of steady white. EPH Landscaping & Construction LLC is out in the dark for those hours, plowing driveways and lots and shoveling walks so whoever leaves at six has a clear path to the street. When ice glazes the curb cuts near the I-280 overpasses, salt goes down before anybody has to ask for it. The same trucks come back in May for mowing, trimming and property cleanups, and the summer work is quieter but no less exact. Two very different kinds of early morning, one habit underneath both: get there first, leave it right.