There's a week in early April when the Rio Grande cottonwoods all leaf out at once and the whole valley changes color. Rio Chama Landscapes & Maintenance is busy right then — first cuts of the year, winter litter carried off, edges re-cut where the season blurred them. From there the yards get a steady weekly pass: mown level, trimmed tight along fences and gravel, the clippings taken. Belen sits just across the water, and the work runs the same on both banks. It's a plain, useful craft, and a well-kept lawn is the proof of it.