North of town the ground begins to tip upward toward Alton, and yards stop being flat rectangles; they terrace, they pitch, they shed water toward the street after a hard Midwestern rain. Elevations Outdoor Service takes those grades on, mowing across a slope, string trimming retaining walls and the awkward strip nobody else can reach, cutting an edge that gives a tilted lawn a firm line to sit against. The morning after a storm the grass hangs heavy and wet clay comes up off the ground, and doing it right takes attention rather than speed. Seasonal cleanups clear whatever the wind pushes downhill. A yard on a hill, finished carefully, looks like it was drawn that way on purpose.