A Rose is a rose is a rose...

When Gertrude Stein wrote those words in 1913 as part of her poem "Sacred Emily" I know she wasn't thinking about Pinnacol, landscaping, or the year 2014. Our company wouldn't even come into being for another two years. Still those are the words that came to mind as I was coming back from lunch and saw one of our Facilities team members Fred putting in some new landscaping around our building. Fred, and his fellow team members in Facilities have some of the most physically demanding jobs here at Pinnacol, certainly compared to those of desk jockeys like me. Pinnacol employees take great pride in the work we do for the people of Colorado and that pride is in part reflected in the way our Facilities team maintains and presents our building.

Today Fred was putting in rose bushes but if you visit our building you'll see all

the other fruits of his and his fellow team members labor. As I meet with candidates they often comment on what a nice facility we have and occasionally I'm asked how old the building is. When I tell them we moved to Lowry in September 2002 they are surprised because the building looks almost new and that's thanks in large part to the ongoing work of Fred and our Facilities crew!