In Osceola County the grass comes on all at once when the frost finally lets go, and a yard can go from brown stubble to knee-deep in two rainy weeks. Lattitude Lawn Service works those weeks the way this river country asks — early, steadily, with the deck set to leave stripes that run true to the road. Out past the jack pines and the hay ground between Reed City and Evart, a mowed lawn is how a place says someone is home. Trimming around the mailbox post, edging the walk, clearing the clippings back off the drive: small acts, but they are the first thing a person sees coming up the two-track. By the time the Muskegon River runs low and warm in August, every yard on the route is still holding its shape.