Midsummer in Security is all glare and grasshoppers, the prairie going straw-colored out toward the bluffs while the watered lawns hold a green that has to be earned. We earn it with mowing on a rhythm, trimming tight around posts and hydrants and mailbox poles, and edging until the concrete has a shoulder you can run a thumb along. High plains turf takes a beating from the sun and the wind, so we cut at a height that protects it and keep the blades sharp enough to slice rather than tear. Evenings, when the light goes orange on Pikes Peak, a freshly cut yard looks about as good as a yard can look. That view is the whole payment.