On a January morning the capitol dome comes up out of the fog like something drawn in pencil, and the hardwoods around Lake Springfield stand bare enough to read every flaw. American Tree Service Unlimited works that dormant stretch and every other one — pruning the oaks and lindens on Springfield's older streets, trimming limbs back from rooflines and service drops, removing trees that have quietly failed on the inside. Central Illinois deals in extremes, and a straight-line wind through a neighborhood of tall shade trees will fill the yards and block the driveways by dawn; that becomes a full day of clearing, chipping and sweeping the curb line. Around Washington Park and out along the lake roads, a well-thinned crown rides out the next round far better than a heavy one, and that difference shows the moment the sky turns again. The job is done when a homeowner steps outside and it looks like nothing ever happened there.