Kirkville mornings often open under a low sheet of fog that drifts off the swamp east of town and lifts around nine. Hodge Lawn & Landscape is usually out in it, blades turning while the grass is still gray with wet. This is flat, generous country — long lots, big sky, lawns that run right up to the treeline — and it grows hard from May straight into October. Mowing, trimming, edging, cleanups: the ordinary rounds that keep a place looking cared for. On a good afternoon out here you can read the mow lines from the road all the way down the block.