Midsummer daylight in the Thumb runs long — the sun is over the wheat before five and still going at nine — and a Bad Axe lawn will use every hour of it. Mowing here means staying ahead of growth that comes in surges after a rain, holding the cut even, running the trimmer along foundations and fence lines until the edges look drawn on. Fall means hauling leaves and readying the ground for what follows. Winter means a blade down a driveway at four in the morning with the county roads still unbroken, ice salted, the path to the door opened by hand. Outdoor work that follows the ground and the weather, straight through from one to the other.