Fall in San Luis Obispo announces itself in the light long before the thermometer says anything — long gold across the Los Osos Valley, fog holding in the low ground out past Laguna Lake. The valley oaks on those grass hills and the sycamores leaning over the creek are the two shapes this town is built around, and both repay pruning done with an eye on next summer's shade. Tree removal happens where a trunk has outgrown a lot line or gone hollow at the base, and it goes down in measured pieces with the yard covered. Storms arrive here in a rush of green rain, and storm damage cleanup means the hanging limb off the roof and the debris gone in the same visit. Regular trimming is the routine that keeps the rest of it from ever becoming an emergency.