Late June along the Gunnison River, the light hangs on until nearly ten, and the cottonwoods throw long shadows over ground that was frozen solid not many weeks ago. The growing season here is short and generous, and Tree Magician spends every hour of it — mowing, trimming, edging, hauling the clippings off, keeping lawns thick while the hay meadows out toward Almont run green with irrigation water. A yard finished in even stripes at that hour, alpenglow still burning on the peaks, is worth stepping back to look at. When the cold comes back and the valley turns white, the same hands take up snow removal: driveways plowed, walks and steps cleared, ice knocked back before anyone has to guess at it. One valley, two kinds of work, both of them about making a place easy to walk out into.