The first hard frost usually finds the hollow near Cooper Lake before it reaches the city — white across the field, steam lifting off the water, deer standing in it like they are waiting for something. Skeet's Landscaping, Inc. reads the year by mornings like that: leaves and cleanups while there is still time, then plows, shovels and salt for the Kingston and West Hurley drives once the roads turn. Spring and summer belong to mowing, trimming, planting and keeping every edge honest. Working between the mountains and the river means two climates on one route, and a job that thawed in town may still be locked up on the hill. A shovel scraping down to bare concrete is the sound of the work being finished.