Northeast Scape works both halves of the Nichols year. From April to October that means mowing the yards along the valley road and up in the hills north of the village — cut on time, trimmed tight, edged so the lawn stops where it should, beds mulched, leaves carried off when autumn empties the maples. Then the light goes short, the wind turns down out of the north, and the same properties want plowing instead: driveways opened wide, walks opened along the front of the house, salt and sand on the grades. Knowing a place in July makes it easier to plow in January — where the culvert sits, where the drive bends, where the ice always forms. It is one long circle of a year in Tioga County, and the pleasure is in handing a property back looking right at both ends of it.