Evening comes gently to Athens, where Nottawa Creek slips past the edge of the village and the light goes long and gold over the yards along the side streets. LawnGARDIANS mows and trims in that hour when the heat lets go, leaving lines that run straight from the sidewalk to the back fence. Grass grows fast in this part of Calhoun County, creek-bottom soil and warm rain and corn shooting up in the fields just past town, so the mowing keeps a steady rhythm all summer. A spring cleanup clears the winter's fallen limbs; the fall pass gathers the maple leaves that come down all at once after the first hard, bright night. What is left each time is a yard that looks cared for from the street.