Half the houses on the shore began as summer cottages and simply never left, which is why these yards need looking after in every month on the calendar. Veterans Outdoor Services, LLC mows, trims and edges through the green season, then plows driveways and clears walkways once the weather hardens. Between the two sit the handoff weeks — April's rake-out, November's leaf haul — when a property is passed from one kind of work to the next. A drive opened before dawn and a lawn cut sharp in July come out of the same habit of showing up. Whitmore Lake, Northfield Township and the roads toward Brighton and South Lyon are the range.