August in Saratoga Springs starts early. The elms along Union Avenue are still dripping with dew, the horse vans are rolling toward the track, and Saratoga Mowing is already at work on lawns two streets over. Each pass is laid straight beside the last, the trimmer catching the fence posts and the mailbox stem, the edges cut back to a crisp line where turf meets sidewalk. The clippings get blown off the drive so nothing is tracked indoors. A mowed lawn is a small thing, but on a Saratoga summer morning, with the light coming through the porches, it is the kind of small thing that makes a whole block look cared for.