Ice-out is the real new year on Schroon Lake — nine miles of water going from white to blue over a few restless days, Mount Severance watching it happen. Adirondack Home Services mows, trims and edges once the ground firms up, then plows drives and clears walks when the lake goes quiet and hard again. Lakeside lawns are sandy and thin and want a higher cut; back-road properties are shaded and mossy and want something else entirely. Winter here is not a spell of weather but a season with weight to it, and driveways need opening again and again. Either way, the work is about a place that stays usable all the way around the calendar.