A family of Red-tailed hawks has re-occupied its seasonal nest atop a power pole at the company's Dos Pobres copper mine near Safford. I shot these images a couple of days ago. I don't know how old the nestlings are. I think there are three of them. Both parents (Red-tailed Hawks are monogamous) take turns watching over the nest. I think (though not sure) the mother is pictured above.

Jake and my mother and wife left us today to travel to visit new granddaughter Eva in Washington for a few days. We have survived the first day. I had a delicious bowl of Campbell's soup from a can and Jake had a home-made milkshake for dinner. We will try to improve upon that cuisine in the coming days. I had actually invited a brother whom Jake and I hometeach to dinner, but he was unable to go. That left us with the Campbell's and the shake.

I spent much of the day at our Morenci Mine shooting pictures of employees at work. These are employees who have transitioned to part-time work from their full-time jobs due to cuts in production. They are generally upbeat about their situation though not entirely without some complaints about how they are being handled by the organization.

After five years with this company, I've come to realize that we are very good at mining copper, but not very good at administration. I think that is due partly to the difficulty in recruiting good business managers/leaders to our outpost mining locations (like Morenci) and partly because our leadership folks are mostly engineers who focus their attention on mining processes, equipment, etc., and don't often have the softer, people skills needed to manage the work force in effective ways.

Take care.

Love,

Dad