Bagley Township sits high on the ground Michigan calls the Tip of the Mitt, and elevation up here means snow measured in feet rather than inches. Winter runs long, so an Otsego County driveway gets reopened again and again — plowed, banked back, salted where ice keeps forming, cleared by hand along the walk. Then the whole country goes green in a hurry, and mowing, edging and trimming fill the short bright stretch from May to September. Fall cleanup comes early; the first flakes often beat the last leaves down. Keeping one property in hand across a swing that wide is the actual work.