The Soque comes down out of the Habersham hills cold and quick, and Clarkesville gathers itself around a square with mountains standing close on every side. Cross Cut Tree Service works those slopes and hollows — pruning hardwoods, trimming limbs back from roofs and gravel drives, removing white pines that have grown tall and top-heavy in thin mountain soil. Winter storms here arrive as ice as often as wind, and the weight takes the oldest limbs first; the cleanup goes until the gravel drive is clear and the yard is bare ground again. Spring brings the mountain laurel and the unhurried work: deadwood out, crowns balanced, sight lines opened back up. Steep ground, sharp saws, and a place left tidier than it was found.