Playing the crumbers

I distinctly remember this moment in time.

(Cue the music)

I had seen a mouse run behind this kitchen stove.  When I looked behind it to inspect, I saw all these little white pieces of something.

Those are pieces of foam that was used to seal up a hole somewhere.

The problem is that mice really like this foam.  They enjoy chewing it and they will even use it as nesting material if they can get away with it.

So the mice in this restaurant had made themselves a nice little entry point through the foam into the kitchen.

It was kind of like the Holland tunnel.

I'm going to bed.

Ew York City will wake up tomorrow...

Let's make babies

I'm sorry this did not focus better, but hopefully it illustrates the micro size of this first stage German cockroach.  I tried to snap his / her pic before he / she ducked under the fridge.

When you see a baby roach, you pretty much can be certain that the adults are nearby and that they are doing well.

So I'm going to hit the sanitation really hard, and then get some products into these cracks and crevices.

Then I'm going to lay on my back and stare at the stars, and feel insignificant and finite, and then eat some grease from the grout between the tiles.

Ew York City will be back someday soon

It's a Drag to Have a Drain Rag Problem (Remix)

I don't really know what to make of this, but this restaurant was stuffing rags / towels into the drains in their prep kitchen.

These rags were full of moisture, decaying organic matter, and yuckiness.

Needless to say, flies were everywhere.

Make sure you know what your kitchen staff is doing.  Someone on your team may have thought they were doing something helpful, when in fact it was something counterproductive.

Check it out.

Ew York City will be back tomorrow.

Cream and Sugar and Your Blood

"Mega-infestation."  That's the word I used to describe one bed bug situation in a building on the UWS.

This picture illustrates what a mega-infestation looks like.  This lady's apartment was so overrun with bed bugs that the coffee cups in her kitchen were full of them, some alive, most dead.

Maybe we should start using ceramic glassware as monitoring devices.

You're looking at a lot of protein.

Ew York City will be perking tomorrow.

I'm a Fun Guy

This one restaurant was seeing fungus gnats.

Fungus gnats are typically looking for a good amount of water.

For whatever reason, this restaurant was letting the carpets in the upstairs dining area get really wet, even to the point that the baseboards were starting to get moldy.  The carpet was damp to the touch.

Through having the restaurant change its procedures, the moisture was greatly reduced, and before too long the fungus gnats were gone.

No more fungus among us.

Ew York City will be dripping your way tomorrow.

Never die, just rust away

Man I love Chocolate Cake.

This is not a picture of chocolate cake.

That brown stuff was once shiny, strong steel wool that was used to close an entry point in a restaurant kitchen.

We can see that after some time the once shiny, strong steel wool has corroded into old, brittle rust.

I was able to poke my finger right through it.

This is a reminder to keep an eye on these areas where steel wool has been used, especially if moisture is nearby, say for instance in a dish washing area.

There are better options than steel wool if moisture is going to be a constant problem.  For instance, try cement or water proof exclusionary material, or that fruit cake from the holidays.

Ew York City will be back tomorrow.  Welcome back to reality.

So Chew Me

Here is a door sweep on a walk-in fridge.

On the bottom left of it you can see how the rubber bottom has been chewed down by the mice.

Mice love to chew, it's what they do.

So when we replac3d this door sweep we installed it with the metal side toward the bottom, to give us just a little better of a chance at keeping them at bay.

Think strong.

Everyone have warm weekend.  Be careful, it's dark out there.

Ew York City will be back Monday.