Almer is flat and open the way the Thumb is flat and open, section roads running square to the horizon and the Cass River cutting the low ground over by Caro. What grows tall out here — the yard maples, the windbreak spruce, the cottonwoods on a fence line — grows exposed, and Flat River Tree Service treats them accordingly: crown trimming, structural pruning, removal when a trunk has hollowed out beside a farmhouse. March wind and July straight-line storms both leave a mess, and the cleanup answer is the same either way: get in, get it down, leave the drive smooth enough to use. There is real pleasure in handing back a front yard that looks like a place again. Almer, Caro, Vassar, Cass City, Mayville and Fairgrove.