In July the light above Crystal Lake Park holds on well past eight, and Urbana yards get their best hour late, after the heat has stepped back. Alex landscaping works both ends of that year — mowing, string trimming, edging, and the autumn haul of leaves off grass and walk — then puts a blade on the truck once the ground turns to iron. Winter here is rarely polite about where it leaves things, so the cold-weather list runs to drives plowed, steps and walks opened to their edges, and salt on the places where meltwater runs and refreezes. What stays with you is the line: a straight cut along a bed edge in June, a clean pavement edge in January, both of them the same instinct.