Tasting the County (The Freeze)

Well, today I start the newest section of the DRM82’s Blog. We begin the trek of Tasting the County.

My journey took me to a town called Scotland Neck. I made the trek to a little eatery called “The Freeze”. The day started out a little early for me as I had to take a trip to Greenville, NC also but that is not what I will talk about today. We made it to The Freeze around 3:00pm and noticed it was still very busy. They are only open on Monday thru Friday. I’m not sure of the Time but I think they close at 9:00pm.

Many people in Halifax County know the name, especially if you’re talking to someone from Scotland Neck or Hobgood. You would think that a building that looks like it does would not offer very much of a comfortable setting to eat. I can say I saw students from Hobgood Academy there getting a cup of Ice Cream after the end of a hard day of getting educated. I saw Families getting together for an early dinner, or a late lunch in my case. Older people and younger people, Black and White, just sitting around having a good time talking and eating.

So enough of me talking about that let me get to my review of the Food. That’s why you’re here, right? Well I ordered the Chicken Basket with Fries, my mom ordered just the simple Cheeseburger full dressed. You can always judge how good the meal is going to be by the way it is packaged. The Chicken came in a plate that was in a brown bag and you could see the grease on the bag, but there was not greasy taste to the chicken. I must say, the Chick was great. It had a great texture and was not over cooked. The spice that was used gave it one of the best flavors I have ever tasted, and trust me I eat A LOT of chicken. There was no real greasy flavor or feeling to the chicken but you could tell it was cooked in some good grease. The cheeseburger was, as my mom said, well done with no grease of bad taste. It was much better than any fast food burger that she has had in a while. She may be biased a little on this as she grew up in Hobgood and would go to the Freeze all the time.

The Ice Cream, they have many flavors and many toppings. I only got the plain vanilla in a cup. The Ice Cream had a great flavor and was and excellent finish to a great lunch. When we go back I plan to try some of the other flavors.

While I was there I noticed a gentleman from Halifax Counties Environmental Health Department was sitting at a table giving the restaurant its rating. I was happy to see they received a 98.5 which is great I believe. So, to cap this first adventure in Tasting the County, I would say it is well worth the trip to go to Scotland Neck and test out the Freeze for you self. They even have old video games your kids can play while they wait for the food.

So go on out there and try something new, you never know what you might find. I’m always looking for that unknown restaurant out there. If you know of one that is within a hour’s drive then please let me know and I will try my best to get out there and try it. Until next time Eat up and live life to the fullest.

A Minor Change

Well, I’ve decided to move this Blog to a more day to day thing. My experiences in this world and what I may learn from them. This blog will contain a few center pieces.

• The Patio Building will continue but will not be the only focus of the Blog
• A new Section will be created focused on What Halifax County has to offer in places to go and things to do.
• Also I will add a review section of eateries I go to in the county and surronding counties. Many of you know I like to eat and I occasionally will go out to eat. As you will see, I’m going to try and give a critics view of a eatery. This will be only a trial section but if I see it’s working I will continue it.

Other changes will be coming as I make the time and put in the effort I should be doing on it.

Here’s to hoping it will grow with all of your help.

Building a Patio Part #2 C (Animals)

WARNING, THIS POST IS NOT FIT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN TO READ. SO DO NOT LET THEM READ IT. ALSO IF YOU ARE A ANIMAL LOVER, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ. IT KILLED ME TO DO IT BUT IT HAD TO BE DONE.

Well, I have learned when you are dealing with moving stuff in your yard, you need to take into account all things that maybe disturbed. I made that mistake by not taking into account that we had some wild rabbits in our yard. I believe when I removed the wood pile the other week, I may have disturbed their home. In my actions I made the rabbits move their home. They moved it to under my deck. The bad thing here is my dog got a hold of 4 baby rabbits and I had the job of getting them from him. I sadly had to kill the rabbits b/c not only was my dog going to continue to keep trying to get them , they also were eating my mom’s Tomato plants.

Now I’m in the process of finding ways to prevent this from happening again. I have found out from several friends the most environmental way to do this is to use Fox Urine. So today I will be going and purchasing all the Fox Urine I can in order to prevent any more animals from getting harmed.

Those of you who know me, know how hard it was for me to harm an animal. I’m just a big guy with a big heart and it killed me to harm those animals but I think it was best for everyone that it was done.

Building a Patio Part #2 B (Canopy Issues)

Well, the Canopy in post Building a Patio 1A turns out to be way more expensive than I was thinking. The amount just to ship the thing is ridiculous. So I’m back to square one on the Canopy. I’m hoping that my local Lowe’s Home Improvement will get some news ones in or at least put the current ones to a lower price since the season is coming to a close. My only fear is that I may have to wait till next year to get the canopy. If that is the case I will at least have the Patio ready.

So the hunt is on for a Canopy again. I will post the next stage when I start it.  I’ve come up with a temporary time table to get the patio done.

• August Payday = 08/25/09 = start the grass killing process.
• Vacation = 08/31/09 – 09/08/09 = Continue the grass killing and clearing of the patio area.

• September Payday = 09/25/09 = Begin the Patio Bricking process.
• Really hope this does not take to long maybe a weekend or two. I will have to get Lowe’s to deliver the bricks which means I may have to take some additional time off in order to get it delivered.

• October Payday = 10/25/09 = Patio should be done but if not do minor fixes during that month.

Of course this whole schedule can change based on Weather and money. The later is more important to me at the moment as the patio bricks are going to be the most expensive.

Building a Patio Part #2 A (Canopy Selection)

I think I have found the Canopy that I want to use for the Patio. It’s on sale right now for half price but it’s online only which means I can’t get a good look at it by walking around it and all.

What do you guys think.

Building a Patio Part #1 (General Information)

Well, I have decided to build a Patio for my Mom & Dad to sit outside and enjoy the weather. It’s going to be a process of about 4 or 5 months I believe as I will only be able to buy the stuff as I have the money. It’s going to be a Long road but I think it will be well worth it in the long run.

I have already begun the process that does not cost anything. I tore down an old wood pile that had been sitting for about 9 years now. Since we no longer use the Fireplace it was just rotting in place and calling all types of bugs and other animals that I don’t want around the yard. That process took about 2 hours in total. It also was a Truck bed load of wood. Was a lot more wood than I thought it was.

I’m looking at making a Patio that is 20×20. Yes you read that right. Gonna be a Big Patio, might even put a 10×10 Canopy over a portion of it. The cost for just the bricks alone is going to be about $600.00. Yeah that’s a lot of money for some patio bricks. I could cut the cost in half if I did just a 10×10 but I want room to move around and not be on top of each other.

I plan to use this blog to document my progress of the Patio. I will post things I do for it whether it’s a small step like today’s cleaning up the wood pile to a big step like laying the patio bricks. I also plan to put pictures up as I go through the process.  Below are a Few pictures of the area where the Patio will be going. Here’s to hoping it all comes out great looking in the end.