Marathon Township runs on gravel and fencerow, with the Flint River threading east toward Holloway Reservoir and Columbiaville sitting quiet at the bend. Lawn care out here means long farm drives, ditch banks that green up fast after a warm rain, and yards that open straight onto corn. Prograde Landscaping LLC mows, trims and edges through the Lapeer County summer, when the light hangs on past nine and the grass grows an inch overnight. Spring and fall cleanups clear the maple leaves and a winter's worth of sticks off a lawn that has to hold its shape against all that open country. There is a real satisfaction in the last pass of the day: stripes laid straight, the edge along the drive cut clean, the mower finally quiet.