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About .

Iowa City wakes east of the river first, where Ralston Creek slips under the streets and the backyards run long and green down toward it. This is lawn care measured in mornings — a mower started while the dew still beads on the blades, the hum working up one side of a yard and back down the other. Trimming follows the fence line and the foundation, edges are drawn clean along the walk, and clippings are blown back off the drive so nothing tracks indoors. Spring and fall cleanups take the heavier half of the year: winter's litter raked out in April, the oak leaves gathered when they finally let go in November. It is plain work, and it shows — an Iowa City yard that looks tended, week after week.