It’s the last in a row of private properties along M-109. To the immediate east lies the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Behind looms Alligator Hill. The Fourth of July had come and gone, and things were relatively quiet; the doors to the house were left open to allow the breeze to pass through. An old retriever lay sound asleep in the front of the house. Near him, a pet bunny was safely caged in another room.