Erie keeps its quiet grid a few miles off the Rock River, where bottomland timber gives way to open Whiteside County fields. Steimle's Lawncare & Snow runs the mowing season from the first warm week onward — cutting, trimming, edging, keeping the grass even under those big shade trees that make the old streets worth walking. Fall clean-up follows the maples down, load after load. Then the river valley funnels the cold in and snow comes sideways across the open ground toward Prophetstown; drives get plowed, walks opened, salt laid on the shaded north side of a house where ice settles in. Two seasons, one town, and a lot of yards that look cared for because somebody made a point of it.