April along the Menlo back roads puts dogwood and redbud in every fencerow, and the town's handful of streets green up almost overnight. Mendez Lawn Service opens the season there, taking the first cut of the year off yards that have been sleeping since the frost. From then on it is weekly work — deck at the right height, trimmer around the posts and the mailbox, edger along the walk. Clippings are cleared off the concrete so nothing tracks inside. In a small valley town where everybody drives past everybody's yard, a straight, even cut speaks for itself.