In Mead township the hills come right down to the Ohio, and the roads follow hollows that hold fog in the morning and shade for half the day. Blackstone Landscape & Construction, LLC works those slopes around the year — mowing and trimming yards that tilt toward the river, then plowing and salting the same steep drives once the valley freezes. A hillside drive in January has to be cleared with the grade in mind: pushed where the snow will not slide back, treated before it turns to glass. In the green months the payoff is a bank mown evenly top to bottom with the edges run tight along stone and gravel. Belmont County ground makes you earn a straight line, which is exactly why it looks so good when you get one.