September along Rice Creek is the softest light Oswego gets — thin, gold, and gone by seven. Mid-State Lawn & Tree Service Inc. spends it mowing, trimming and edging yards around the city and the towns beyond it, then clearing the leaf fall as it comes down rather than after it packs. Spring cleanups do the opposite job, pulling winter's leavings off the turf so the first green has room to move. A lawn kept on schedule through the shoulder seasons looks better in July than one rescued in June. That is most of the trade, and it is enough.