December comes early to Erie — the sun drops behind the range by half past four and the whole town glows blue for an hour before the porch lights take over. Augusta Lawn Care and Christmas Lights works both ends of that year: mowing, trimming and edging through the green months, plowing and shoveling once winter arrives off the Divide. There is a rhythm in it, the mower's arc in July and the plow's arc in January drawn on the very same driveway. Walks get cleared to the pavement and ice gets handled so a front step stays a step. The yards look tended in every kind of light this town gets, and Erie gets a lot of kinds.