I was surprised, first of all, by the fact that this privately owned company built this plant out of pocket, with no loans. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money to shell out for a business venture without taking a loan.

The second thing that surprised me was how clean the place was for a food plant. Everyone requires washing hands before entering the manufacturing center of a food plant, but here everyone must enter a closed hallway and receive an air shower to remove any dirt particles that may cling to your body. Special shoes and clothes, designated for work are not allowed off the premises, except to be cleaned. I was very impressed and glad to know that at least this food plant is trying very hard to produce food without curly hairs in it.

View from the roof of the plant.

Stainless steel is primarily used as it is durable and clean.

6 pound blocks of mozzarella floating down a brine solution.

Mmmmm, cheese!

This is cheddar flavored and colored mozzarella.

This last picture really caught my interest. Why would anyone flavor and color mozzarella like cheddar? I asked the workers why they wouldn’t just use cheddar. Cheddar clumps up into a blob when melted. Mozzarella cheese stretches when warm. I’m sure you have all seen commercials for Hot Pockets and Taco Bell, where the melted mixture of multiple cheeses stretches as they split apart the food. This is this stuff.

This trip was not without its souvenirs, mostly the injury kind. I burned myself within the first fifteen minutes of starting my work, but this isn’t a typical hot soup burn at 150 degrees that you’ve probably all experienced at one time. This is an instantaneous, flesh melting 350 degrees. It’s really difficult to avoid touching hot things in tight crawl spaces, and it sucks. My head has bruises from wearing a hard hat and safety goggles for two days. My shoulders and back hurt from lugging around twenty pounds of equipment over eight miles a day. Fortunately, the smell of cheese isn’t one of the souvenirs I brought back with me.

I am glad to be back and hopefully someone else can go in my place the next time work is needed in one of these giant food plants.

You just click this link to find all the happening places.

See how far down I am typing? There is about five times more white space on the website. I think this is the space, where they normally list the fun things to do in a town. There is this much nothing to do where I will be working. Fortunately Best Western offers high speed Internet access. Now if there was only a way to get there in less than four hours….

Look where I get to go for work now. That is right. This one is even more in the middle of nowhere, if it’s even possible to more in the middle than the last trip tot he middle of nowhere. Unfortunately this job is a two day job this time. There will be no escaping. Maybe I can stay here when I head up there. Then I can make a lot of money the first night and pay someone else to do my work, maybe one of those bright Cal State Fresno alumni.

Repair Kit: Includes 2 Diaphragms, 4 Balls, 9 O-Rings, Lube

When you gather piping together for a customer it’s called pulling pipe. At my work, we are constantly pulling pipe.

This is a ball valve. It contains a ball and stem. This one has male screwed ends. You can get them with female screwed ends as well. You can also get them in butt weld.

A piece short pipe with threads on both ends is called a nipple. A nipple! Are you kidding me? These are noted by their material, diameter, and length. I have had the unfortunate luck of asking for a 2″ x 4″ black nipple. No one should have to ask for black nipples unless they are in a strip club.

I just sold a customer this exact line item: 1/2″ try cock. I don’t know about that. Even if it’s only 1/2″ I still don’t think I am ready to try it just yet.