April comes up the Hudson to Cortlandt Manor on the water first — Verplanck and Montrose green a good week ahead of the ridge roads. Manny's Landscaping & Masonry Corp. follows that wave with mowing, trimming, edging and spring cleanups, then rides it back down through the fall leaves into plowing, walkway clearing and salting once the river runs steel-colored and the wind gets teeth. A lawn cut straight and a driveway cleared to the asphalt are the same promise made in different months: you can get on with your day. The crew measures a season by how little anyone has to think about the ground they walk on. Cortlandt Manor hands them all four to work with, and none of them are dull.