The Little Muskegon River runs cold and quick past Howard City, and on a May morning the mist lifts off it and lies in the low fields until the sun burns it back. Fresh Lawn Service starts the season in that light — first cuts of the year, edges reopened, trimming along posts and foundations while the grass is still tender and eager. Through summer it becomes a weekly rhythm; through winter it becomes plowing and shoveling, opening driveways and walks after the nights that bury Montcalm County an inch at a time. A lawn cut at the right height in June holds its color into August, and a walk taken down to bare concrete in December stays that way. Small decisions, made early, are what carry a property through the year.