October evenings out here run short and gold, the sandhills toward the Antelope Hills turning the color of a struck match. Frost comes early to this end of the state, and the buffalo grass along the road shoulders goes tawny weeks before town lawns give up. Tatum Lawn Care/ OKC BRICK keeps at it into the shortening light — mowing while the grass still asks for it, fenceline trimming, edging, and the fall cleanup that puts a yard to bed. The last cut of the year has its own steadiness: mower loud in cool air, clippings smelling faintly of hay. Come March those same yards green up first, and it shows.