Spring arrives in Whitehall from the low ground first, where Wood Creek spreads through the marsh and the canal opens toward the head of Lake Champlain. Hall Services waits out the soft weeks, then makes the first cut of the year once the ground will carry a mower without printing. Cleanups come ahead of that: winter sand, blown cattail, and the litter a wet season strings along a fence. After that it is mowing, trimming and edging on rotation right through the long green stretch of summer. A yard that has come back from mud to a level, even green is a good thing to stand and look at.