Late November up near the Sturgeon River headwaters is a quiet time — the tamaracks have gone rust, the two-tracks freeze hard, and the sky sits low over the pines all day long. That is the changeover: last leaves cleared and hauled, plow hooked up for a season that will run clear to April. Otsego County snow arrives off Lake Michigan in bands, so clearing is repeat work — drives pushed back wide, paths opened to the door, salt where ice sets in overnight. When spring finally softens the ground, mowing, edging and trimming begin all over again. A yard tended straight through the year never has to be rescued.