In August a Bloomington storm announces itself an hour early — a blue-black shelf out past the west edge of town, and then the light goes strange and green. Green Machines Lawn Care works the gaps between them, mowing and trimming while the ground is still firm, edging the walks, hauling the clippings clear. Grass on this prairie grows in bursts, fast after a soaking and slow through a dry stretch, so a crew watches the sky as closely as the schedule. Later in the year the work turns to leaf cleanup and a last cut that leaves a yard ready to freeze. A finished lawn on a hot evening, everything trimmed and blown clean, is a genuinely good thing to stand and look at.