Late August in Dickinson County smells like cut grass and warm pine, and the low gold light comes in sideways across every lawn in the valley. Packard Excavating & Landscaping works in that light, mowing, trimming, and shaping the ground so a yard sits right on the slope it was given. Iron Mountain is built on ridges and old rock, which means grass has to be coaxed on the high ground and drained on the low, and the difference shows within one growing season. Cleanups bookend the year — clearing winter's leftovers in May, taking down the leaves before the first hard freeze. The best afternoons end with a lawn that looks like it simply grew that way, which is the whole trick of it.