Down the slope toward Torch Lake the ground is birch, old poor rock and yards carved out of both — not the simplest grass in Michigan to keep tidy. Tarvis Lawn Care & Maintenance LLC gives it a steady afternoon rhythm: mowing, string trimming along fences and foundations, edging, and hauling off what spring and fall leave behind. When winter takes the township back, the work becomes plowing, moving snow away from where it has piled too high, and opening the walks a household actually uses. Nothing about a Keweenaw winter is small, so the clearing can't be either. In either season the aim is the same — a property that looks cared for, whatever the sky is doing to it.