Phelps ends where the national forest begins, and most yards here are really clearings — grass holding its ground against hemlock, balsam, and a steady rain of pine needles. Connor and Sons keeps those clearings green and neat: mowing through the fast Northwoods summer, trimming the edges where lawn meets woods, raking down the heavy fall of leaves and needles when September turns. Afternoon light comes through the trees in long bars up here, and a freshly cut yard catches it like nothing else. That's the reward they work for, one Vilas County property at a time.