Oxford's hills are glacial leftovers, gravel and kettle lakes stitched together with oaks that have been up there a long time. Alpine Tree Service works the ridges and the lakefronts — taking out a white oak gone brittle over a cottage roof, trimming and pruning so a shoreline keeps its shade without losing the view. Wind funnels across Clear Lake and Lakeville in a summer squall, and the day after is storm damage cleanup, limbs pulled from the water's edge and the lawn put back to green. Watching a crown come down in pieces without so much as bruising the grass below is its own kind of pride. Oxford, Lake Orion, Leonard, Ortonville and the Polly Ann Trail towns nearby.