Fog settles into the low pastures around Roopville on late-winter mornings and lifts about the time the first tank of gas runs out. This is west Carroll County — red clay, hardwood ridges, Alabama a short drive over the hill — and the yards here run big and green from March into October. Keeping one takes a rhythm: mow before the grass gets ahead, trim the fence line and the mailbox, cut the edge where lawn meets gravel, and clear the drive on the way out. The first cut of the year is always the most satisfying one, since the whole place changes color and shape in a single afternoon. After that it's every week, all season, until the grass finally lies down.