Zebulon's courthouse square is a short drive up the road, and Rover keeps to the same plainspoken standard: neat, even, nothing left behind. Mike's Yard Care mows, trims around posts and mailboxes, runs a line along the walks, and clears the clippings off the concrete. Bermuda out in the sun, fescue in the shade, pine straw where the grass has given up on trying. The day starts early, because a Pike County afternoon in August does not negotiate. A yard that reads as squared away from the road is the whole point of the work.