In September the smell of roasting chile drifts through La Mesilla, the plaza fills up on a Saturday, and the church bells mark the afternoon whether anyone is listening or not. La Mesilla Properties keeps grounds in that neighborhood of thick adobe and old cottonwoods, handling lawn mowing, trimming, edging and seasonal cleanups so a place looks kept without looking fussed over. The valley gives a long growing season — grass here is still going strong when other parts of the country have quit — and that calls for steady visits rather than heroic ones. A straight edge along a walk, a clean line where turf meets gravel, no clippings left behind: that is the whole job, done again and again. Around a town this old, looking after the ordinary is its own kind of respect.