Brandon lies out in the flat north country of Franklin County, where the Deer River wanders and the July light hangs on until nearly ten o'clock. Mowing here means wide open yards, long farm dooryards and the strips along the town roads, cut weekly and trimmed close around posts, foundations and fence lines. The season is short and it does not wait — grass comes on fast once mud season lets go and runs straight through to the first hard frost. Cleanups bracket the year at both ends, spring and fall. It is a fine thing to see a north country lawn cut clean and striped, with the hayfields still shaggy on the far side of the fence.