South of the prairie the country begins to fold, and around Steeleville the ridges run down to Mary's River in stands of sycamore, oak and hickory. JLM Tree Service and Removal works that hill-and-hollow ground — taking down leaning trunks above a house, trimming crowns back off barn roofs, pruning yard trees grown lopsided from reaching for light between the timber. Spring arrives wet and loud here, and a saturated slope plus a hard wind will put trees on the ground in places no truck can reach; the answer is patience, rigging, and hauling until the yard is walkable again. Randolph County people notice the finish more than the felling: no ruts through the grass, no scattered brush, no pile forgotten behind the shed. Pulling out of a lane with the hollow gone and the good trees standing clean is a fine way to spend a day.