This week much of the Southeast is expected to experience freezing temperatures, which can cause severe damage to lawns, trees and shrubs.  Here are a few tips to take when a freeze is in the forecast:

• Irrigate before a frost or freeze to ensure there is proper moisture in the soil root zone, however make sure irrigation is stopped early enough to allow time for leaves to dry to avoid ice forming on them.
• Cover cold-sensitive plants with blankets or boxes, but not plastic.  Be sure to remove the covering as soon as the temperatures begin to warm up.
• Do not mow turf that is frozen, and keep the lawn mowed high.  This can reduce cold injury in two ways.  First, it will promote a deeper root system that will provide greater stress tolerance.  Second, it will create a warmer micro-environment within the lawn.
• Avoid foot traffic and vehicular traffic on frozen turf, as it can increase damage.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or visit our freeze information page!

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year at Massey Services we look for a tasty dessert to share with our customers and team members for Thanksgiving. This year, we discovered Pumpkin Icebox Pie and it was so good we just had to share it!

Crust:
16 cinnamon graham crackers
1 tablespoon dark-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling & Topping:
3 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
1 can (29 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
3/4 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Directions for Crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, combine graham crackers (broken up), sugar and salt; process until fine crumbs form. With machine running, slowly pour butter through feed tube and process until mixture resembles wet sand. Press crumbs in bottom and up sides of a 9-inch square baking dish. Bake until crust is deep golden brown, 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Filling: Place 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin on top and let stand 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree and cream cheese until smooth. In a small saucepan, combine evaporated milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add gelatin mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Pour milk mixture into pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely smooth. Pour filling into cooled crust and refrigerate until chilled and completely set, about 3 hours (or wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate, up to 2 days). To serve, whip cream with confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of American Pest Control Management, Inc. Based in Southwest Florida, American Pest Control Management has been providing services to more than 7,000 homes and businesses in counties from Tampa to Naples.

“American Pest Control Management has been a well-respected company in Florida for the last 20 years. Their commitment to quality service is an excellent fit with our company,” said Tony Massey, President and COO of Massey Services. “We are pleased to welcome the entire team from American Pest Control Management to the Massey Services family.”

Suzanne Graham, the former owner, Linden Curtis, the former Sales and Service Manager, and the entire American Pest Control Management team have joined Massey and will continue to focus on providing quality customer service.

Please join us in welcoming the American Pest Control Management team to Massey!

We are pleased to announce our Technical and Training Director for Pest Prevention, Phil (or as we all call him, “Doc”) Nichols, was awarded the 2011 Crown Leadership Award by Pest Control Technology & Syngenta Professional Products!!

This award recognizes individuals who have contributed to the development of the pest control industry and have established strong relationships with fellow business leaders, civic groups and customers in their local communities.

Doc is an expert in the pest prevention industry with over 35 years of experience. He helped introduce Termidor® to the US market in 2000 and is well-respected by professionals in the industry for his advancements in termite treatment and his extensive research and development of new pest prevention equipment.

Doc was presented with this prestigious award last Thursday, October 20th, at the National Pest Management conference in New Orleans.

Congratulations Doc!

Recently an article was published in the Sun Sentinel that reminds us of why it’s so important to have termite protection for your home. This article references a homeowner in South Florida that discovered termite damage in his home and then found out that his homeowner’s insurance does not cover it.
Unfortunately, most homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover termite damage. So in addition to having termite protection for your home, it’s also important to make sure it’s backed by a guarantee that you can count on if you ever have a problem.
Here in the Southeast, we can’t get away from termites so the best thing to do is protect your home.
If you suspect you may have a termite infestation, click here to learn more about the warning signs.

It’s no secret that bed bugs are a hot topic of conversation.  They have become a nuisance everywhere, not only in hotels but in restaurants, movie theaters and even stores!  Even more concerning is the virtual ineffectiveness using traditional means of eliminating bed bug infestations.

That’s because bed bugs are becoming resistant to the pesticides that have been used to treat them.  Massey Services began to understand that this was occurring and so five years ago, we began testing alternative treatments to eliminate bed bugs and developed our bed bug heat remediation program.

This treatment completely eliminates entire populations of bed bugs – from egg to adult.  The process uses forced air heaters to raise the temperature in bed bug infested areas, killing bed bugs at all stages of their development.  These heaters, in conjunction with an integrated pest management approach to pest elimination, have proven to be significantly more effective than other methods of bed bug control.

Our bed bug heat remediation treatment was recently patented as well!  Click here for more information.

About five years ago, as bed bugs continued to make a resurgence in the United States, we recognized there was a need for a different type of bed bug treatment that would eliminate bed bugs at all stages of life. We began testing several treatment types and found that heat was very successful at doing this. So we partnered with a company that specialized in heat and the bed bug heat remediation process was born.
This process is not only effective but also very efficient. It requires that hotel rooms be off market for only 48 hours, compared to what can be weeks when using a liquid treatment. Not only that, you don’t have to destroy the contents of the room because the heat will eliminate all bed bugs – no matter where they are hiding.
Earlier this year, it was announced that we were receiving a patent for our heat remediation treatment and we couldn’t be more proud! This is just another example of our commitment to innovation, which allows us to provide outstanding results for our customers!

Last week a story was published in the Orlando Sentinel about German Cockroaches infesting Orange County Public Schools.

As soon as we heard the news, we connected with the District to offer our help and expertise to eliminate this problem as quickly as possible.  Several of our team members volunteered their time this past weekend to complete thorough inspections on 12 of the 22 schools with a reported infestation to find the source and determine a treatment plan to rid these schools of roaches.  Additionally, other team members are working evenings this week to inspect the final 10 schools.  Overall, in working with the District employees, we hope to have these schools completely reopened by early next week, if not sooner.

All of these services were offered free of charge and are truly a reflection of why at Massey, our team members truly do make a difference in our company and in our community!

J. Howard Miller's Poster

Certainly, one of the more readily recognizable icons of labor is “Rosie the Riveter,” the indefatigable World War II-era woman who rolled up her sleeves, flexed her arm muscles and said, “We Can Do It!” But, truth be told, this isn’t the original Rosie.

In 1942, as World War II raged in Europe and the Pacific and the song “Rosie the Riveter” filled radio waves across the home front, manufacturing giant Westinghouse commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to make a series of posters to promote the war effort. One such poster featured the image of a woman with her hair wrapped up in a red polka-dot scarf, rolling up her sleeve and flexing her bicep. To many people, this image is “the” Rosie the Riveter. But it was never the intention to make this image “Rosie,” nor did many Americans think of her as “Rosie.” The connection of Miller’s image and “Rosie” is a recent phenomenon.

The “Rosie” image popular during the war was created by illustrator Norman Rockwell for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 — the Memorial Day issue. The image depicts a muscular woman wearing overalls, goggles and pins of honor on her lapel. She sports a leather wrist band and rolled-up sleeves. She sits with a riveting tool in her lap, eating a sandwich, and “Rosie” is inscribed on her lunch pail.

Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter

The magazine cover exemplified the American can-do spirit and illustrated the notion of women working in previously male-dominated manufacturing jobs, an ever-growing reality, to help the United States fight the war while the men fought over seas.

The cover was an enormous success and soon stories about real life “Rosies” began appearing in newspapers across the country. The government took advantage of the popularity of Rosie the Riveter and embarked on a recruiting campaign of the same name. The campaign brought millions of women out of the home and into the workforce. To this day, Rosie the Riveter is still considered the most successful government advertising campaign in history.

Since then, the J. Howard Miller “We Can Do It!” image has replaced Norman Rockwell’s illustration as “Rosie the Riveter” in the minds of many people. Miller’s Rosie has been imprinted on coffee mugs, mouse pads, and countless other items, making her and not the original “Rosie” the most famous of all labor icons.

Article courtesy of the US Dept. of Labor. For more info, click here.

As we move closer to fall, families often find themselves spending more time together outdoors. Below are a few suggestions for outdoor activities the whole family will love!

Make family dinner an outdoor event – Have a picnic or grill out for dinner one night during the school/work week for unexpected outdoor fun.

Go for a walk or a hike – Find a trail through the woods, at a local park or around the neighborhood. Be sure to allow ample time for children to explore and observe nature along the way.

Go camping in the backyard – Pitch a tent, create a backyard “campfire” to sing songs around, tell stories by flashlight and sleep in sleeping bags under the stars. (Just make sure that rain isn’t in the forecast!)

Go on an insect exploration – Look for interesting insects around your backyard. Buy a bug house and collect lightning bugs or crickets for children to observe. For more fun tips on how to get kids interested in insects, click here.

Hold a scavenger hunt – Make a list of items to find or activities to complete. The list might include things like collecting leaves or flowers, shooting a basket with a basketball, finding a hidden item, rolling in the grass, etc.

Run relay races – Set up goal lines and host relay races with family and friends. You can also set up a fun obstacle course!