Late afternoon in Marathon turns the hill pastures gold and throws long shadows off the sugar maples that line the back roads. That is a fine hour to finish a lawn, and Countree Lawn & Landscape mows, trims, edges and clears beds across the town's farmsteads and village yards. Spring here means mud first, then a sudden rush of green once the valley warms enough to allow it. Autumn means leaves, plenty of them, raked and carried off before the cold settles in for good. What lasts is the look of a place kept up — an even lawn, a defined edge, a yard that sits well in the countryside around it.