February in Mascoutah is bare and bright, and the flat ground east of town lets the wind through with nothing at all to slow it. That makes good pruning weather: S & S Tree Service LLC reads the structure of a dormant crown, takes out the crossing limbs and the deadwood, and trims back whatever has reached too far over a roof. Removals go easier in the cold as well, with the ground firm under the truck and the beds still asleep. Through the wet months the calendar fills with storm damage cleanup — hauling out what the wind claimed and squaring the yard up again. The proof shows in May, when a tree that was worked on properly leafs out full and even and nobody can tell a saw was ever in it.