August evenings on the high plains run long and gold, and the gravel lanes around Strasburg hold the day's heat well after the sun has dropped behind the mountains. Strasburg Rock Company spends those evenings on lawns, mowing, trimming and edging, keeping the green part of a yard even against all the rock and dust surrounding it. Winter is the harder and simpler season: plow the drive, clear the walk, break up the packed ice at the apron, then move along to the next place before the light comes up. The plains soften nothing, so the work is mostly a matter of showing up. Cut grass in summer, bare pavement in winter, all within a few miles of home.