Some yards in Howard sit a quarter mile off the pavement, past the cattle gap, where the pines close in and the gravel narrows to two ruts and a grass strip. Those are the ones backwoods tree & lawn care goes after, and they get the same treatment as any lot in town — a full cut, trimming around the steps and the shop and the propane tank, the drive blown clean of clippings so the gravel reads gray again. Out where a yard has to hold its ground against the timber, upkeep is not decoration; it is how a place stays a place. Pulling away at dusk and seeing the whole clearing look intentional in the mirror is the payoff. It has not gotten old yet.