Gaylord sits on the highest ground in the Lower Peninsula, and January makes sure everybody knows it — snow measured in feet, air sharp enough to ring. Alpine tree service works these Otsego County yards, where pine and spruce hold their load until a thaw or a wind decides otherwise. Tree removal, tree trimming, and pruning are the winter-proofing: the split crotch found in October, the limb shortened before it is asked to carry two feet of wet snow. Storm damage cleanup covers whatever still gets through — the top out of a driveway, the tree on the shed, the lane opened before dark. Up here, a clear drive on a white morning is worth about as much as anything you can hand somebody.