August in Capital smells like cut grass and fair week, the heat sitting heavy over the flat country until the evening storms build up out of the southwest. Capital City Lawn Dogs runs the mowing straight through it — cutting, trimming, edging, carrying off the clippings — because turf out here does not wait for comfortable weather. There is a rhythm to a route in high summer: start early, keep the blades sharp, leave every yard looking cooler than you found it. Autumn brings the leaf work and the long last cuts of the year; spring brings the cleanup that gets everything even again. It is plain work done in the open, and a straight stripe across a green yard is its own argument.