September light lies flat and long over Barnegat Bay, the summer crowd thins out, and Lacey Township gets its own town back for a while. Ruggiero Lawn Services works right through that shift — the late-season mowing, the trimming and edging that keeps a yard tight, then the fall cleanup that clears leaves and needles off the turf before the ground hardens. Once the cold arrives the work becomes snow: plowing the drive, opening the walkway, salting the steps and the slick apron by the street. The pleasure of it is watching a property stay in good order all the way around the calendar, no month where it gets away from you. From the first cut of the year to the last push of a February storm, it is the same set of hands on the same yards.