Before the mowers start there is already a shift underway in the pines — jays first, loud and unbothered, then everything else. That is the hour the work begins: cool grass, long shadows, the streets near Pendleton King Park still empty. Mowing goes down while the day is kind, then trimming around trunks and posts, then the drive and walk blown clear. Augusta's growing season is generous and the grass never really takes a month off, so the early start is a habit rather than a plan. A yard cut at daybreak has a particular look to it by afternoon — settled and tidy, as though it had been that way all along.