Thursdays in July start hot and get hotter, and by ten o'clock the cicadas out toward Starrsville are loud enough to argue with the mower. E&R lawn care service works the route anyway — cut, edge, trim, clear, move on — because in a Covington summer a week is a long time for grass to be left alone. The trick in this heat is height: leave the blades tall enough to shade their own roots and a lawn holds its green through the dry stretch of August. Shrubs get trimmed back off the walls, walks get swept clear and the yard is handed back looking cool even when nothing is. Small work, done steadily, is what keeps a place from getting away from you.