Yard Dogs

About Yard Dogs

The first hard frost in Kingsport settles on the low ground out toward Warriors' Path, silvering the grass a good hour before the sun clears the ridge. Yard Dogs works both sides of that line. Cold months mean plowing driveways, clearing steps and walks by shovel, and putting salt down where ice sets up in the shade — mornings when the whole point of the job is that somebody can get out and get where they are going. Warm months mean mowing on a schedule, trimming, edging along the curb until the line looks drawn rather than cut. Kingsport was laid out on purpose, Church Circle and Broad Street and all of it, and keeping a yard in order is a small way of holding up that end of the bargain — here and over toward Blountville, Mount Carmel and Gate City.