Fountain Creek runs a green seam of cottonwoods through this part of El Paso County, and in late October those trees let go all at once. That is our busy stretch — raking and hauling leaves, cutting the season's last mow low, edging one final time so the yard goes into winter looking squared away. The rest of the year we keep it simple and consistent: mowing, trimming, edging, week after week, so no lawn ever has to be recovered from. Down here the prairie starts right where the neighborhood ends, and a well-kept yard makes a clear, welcoming boundary. Nothing fancy about it — just grass cut right and lines held straight.