St. Jacob sits along the old National Road, one short main street with corn coming right up to the edge of town on three sides. Summer here is mowing on the week — long farmhouse lawns, shop and church frontage, trimming in along the railing and the fence corners, an edge cut so the grass stops where it ought to. Autumn turns that into leaf clearing, and then the trucks change over. Winter storms come across the open fields from the northwest and pack a driveway solid, so plowing starts at night: pavement scraped clean, walkways opened to the door, ice treated at the steps and the apron. Same yards, same people — a lawn worth looking at in July, a drive that opens before work in January.