March in Arenas Valley is all wind. It comes down the valley for weeks, strips the last dead leaves out of the yards and packs them against every fence in town. Then the cottonwoods along the creek bottoms leaf out nearly overnight and the grass remembers what it is for. Spring cleanup is the honest start of the year here — the yard raked out, the winter litter hauled off, the first mow taken slow and low. After that it is a steady cut through the season, edges trimmed and walks blown clear, and a yard that begins the year clean stays easy all the way to fall.