Autumn is the long season in North Muskegon: Bear Lake goes slate-colored, the oaks along the bayou hold their leaves halfway to Thanksgiving, and the mowing keeps right on going through it. We cut into October, dropping the height as the growth slows, and we keep leaves moving off the grass rather than letting them mat down over it. Summer is the plain rhythm — mow, trim, edge, sweep the drive, come back next week. Bed lines and the ground around the shrubs get trimmed by hand, because that is the line the eye follows from the sidewalk. By the last cut of the year a lawn out here ought to be short, clear and ready to sleep under whatever comes off the lake.