The country around Columbia is limestone underneath — sinkhole meadows, springs that appear out of a hillside, old lanes running back between fields laid out a long time ago. Christian's Complete Lawn Care Service keeps the lawns on that ground looking like someone is paying attention: mowed on a set schedule, trimmed along foundations and posts, edged where grass would otherwise creep over the walk. Late spring is the hardest stretch, when Monroe County takes its rain and everything doubles overnight. The cleanups at either end of the year handle what a mower cannot — the leaf load in November, the winter litter in March. A finished yard here has a certain squared-off calm to it.