By late October the old Erie rail bed through Blauvelt lies ankle-deep in maple and oak, and every yard in the neighborhood is headed the same way. Wieckes Lawn and Landscape closes out the year on those slopes — final mows, trimming, leaves cleared off the grass before rain mats them down. Leaf work is unglamorous and it decides how a lawn looks in April. There is something settling about a yard emptied at dusk with the cold coming on. Then the mowers come back out in spring and the whole rhythm starts over.