First light in Clay County comes up over flat fields and hedge rows, and the dew holds until the sun gets high enough to take it. Burmeister Mowing & Lan is out in that hour, mowing while the grass cuts clean, then trimming, edging, and clearing the clippings off the drive. Summer here is humid and generous — a week of rain and everything needs cutting twice — while fall brings long cleanups under the oaks and hickories. When February hands Flora a night of snow, the same trucks come back with a blade on the front and open the drives before the school buses run. Simple work, kept up all year, in town and out on the gravel roads.