The first mow of the year in the Fourche Lafave valley comes on a morning still cool enough for a jacket, with the river running high off spring rain. BULLDOGS LAWN MAINTENANCE opens the season there and holds it — mowing on a regular turn, trimming fence rows and tree rings, sidewalks and drives edged, and clippings blown off pavement and porches. Grass in this valley comes on strong in May and doesn't ease up until the nights cool, so the visits stay close together. Late in the year the hardwood leaf comes down and the same yards get raked and cleared. Steady upkeep, one yard at a time, until the ground goes quiet.