East of Route 9 the ground in Halfmoon tips down toward the Hudson, and on a January morning the river fog freezes onto every branch above it. Capitol Pro Tree Removal works that side of town and out along the 146 corridor, where pines planted in rows years ago have grown up crowded against each other. An ice load finds the weak union in a tree the way nothing else can, which is why tree removal and storm damage cleanup fill the weeks between December and March here. Trimming and pruning are the warm-weather answer to the same problem — weight reduced, crossing limbs gone, a crown that sheds ice instead of catching it. The measure of a day is a driveway cleared before anyone needs it and a yard raked down to the grass.