Blade Runners

About Blade Runners

On summer mornings the fog lifts off the Cedar River and lies low over the west side of Waterloo until the sun burns through it around eight. Blade Runners is already out in that hour, and the first pass across a wet lawn leaves a dark stripe that dries pale by noon. Mowing, trimming and edging here mean working with grass that shoots up in a June heat and goes stubborn in an Iowa August. There is real pleasure in the moment the trimmer finishes a fence line and the whole yard suddenly reads as done. Around Byrnes Park and out toward Hudson they leave the walks blown clean and the edges cut sharp enough to see from the street.