The tall houses above Academy Street wear deep porches and long front walks, and every one of them becomes a small excavation after a January storm. Ben Shoen's Home Improvement handles that stretch between the street and the front door — steps cleared corner to corner, walks opened to their full width instead of a narrow lane, drives pushed back to their edges. Snow gets moved once, properly, rather than shoved into a berm that hardens overnight into something you would need a chisel for. Ice gets treated where the north side of a house keeps its shade all winter long. There is a particular satisfaction in a set of stone steps showing their color again by breakfast.