Winter comes into Preakness Valley off the Watchung ridge, a gray shoulder of cloud that leans on the high ground long before the first flake reaches the valley floor. Addrianni Landscape Contractors sets its clock by that descent, out with the blade down while the neighborhood is still one unbroken white page. There is a particular pride in the sound of a driveway opening at four in the morning, a clean stripe of asphalt where an hour before there was nothing but drift. Walks get cleared to the door rather than to the mat, and the de-icer goes down thin and even so the porch steps are safe by the time the coffee is poured. Snow removal is the whole of the work here, and Preakness gets enough of it to keep the craft honest.