January in Americus is a quiet brown month — Bermuda gone dormant, the sun dropping behind the downtown rooftops before anybody is ready for it. Miguel's Lawn Care Service works right through that stretch, because dormant does not mean untended: leaves cleared, beds cut back and edged, shrubs shaped, straw refreshed, everything set up for the green that comes rushing in around March. On a frost morning the grass crunches underfoot and breath shows in the air, and the yard still gets its lines. Then April arrives and the mowing starts again and hardly stops until Halloween. Steady hands, week after week, one yard at a time.