The Connecticut widens above the dam at Wilder and lays a long gray mirror beside the town, and Hartford's weather tends to follow that water. Birch Hill Property Services works both ends of the year along it — mowing, trimming and seasonal cleanups while the bank is green, plowing and shoveling drives and walkways once the river steams in the cold. Spring here is mud and matted grass, and there is honest pleasure in raking a yard back to life. Winter is earlier alarms and longer nights, and the same feeling in a driveway opened curb to garage before anyone needs it. Between the two, a property simply stays looked after.