Midsummer, middle of the day, and the whole of south Boulder smells like cut grass and warm asphalt. Rudy's Landscaping spends those hours in the yards around Martin Acres and the streets bending toward Table Mesa, mowing in clean parallel passes, trimming the fence lines, edging where concrete meets green so the boundary reads sharp all the way from the sidewalk. Out this way the lawns run up against open space and the South Boulder Creek path, which means the grass is forever negotiating with the prairie and needs a hand holding its shape. Come autumn, the same yards get their leaves gathered and hauled off before the first hard freeze pins them flat. It is unglamorous, deeply satisfying work, and the difference shows from the street.