Hebrew National Reduced Fat Hot Dogs Review, Climbing Wall Coming To My Backyard, Contest Over & This & That

Hey folks, I'm not a food stylist...














I bought two packages of these Hebrew National Reduced Fat Beef Franks because unlike most hot dogs they're relatively high protein. Hot dogs are usually mostly fat, and like it or not, fat does not build muscle. Also I prefer to get my fat from sources like Omega 3 margarine, olive oil, flax oil, and fish oil. It's easy to get enough saturated fat but with Omega 3s it's harder to reach your quota.

These Hebrew National Beef Franks are Kosher (if you're not Jewish this is still a great choice for quality) and unlike most dogs made of premium beef cuts not formed meat. They're delicious and only 45 calories a hot dog with 7 grams of protein, 0 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fat. If you're watching carbohydrates, or going the low fat route, these are just the ticket. I've eaten them on 100% whole wheat buns (not in the photo as I ran out and used Jerry's white buns), or you can pair them with sour kraut for a low carb meal. You'll feel like you're cheating!

Personal This & That

My calves are sore as hell. Too many rides on the Merry-Go-Round a mere few days after a leg blaster resistance workout will do that. Those frigging steel stirrups on those merry-go-round horses are killer. There's no padding like a real English saddle stirrups and I wore thin soled sneakers not riding boots. Besides I usually ride Fury with a bareback pad and don't use stirrups.

Jerry says the carnival counts as a workout, it wore us all out. Bruno fell asleep early Sunday night, not like him at all. If you haven't checked it out there's a short video in my last post of Bruno bungee jumping. He wants us to build a bungee jump in the back yard now. We're currently constructing a climbing wall - the homemade ones are called Woodies - like this one below. Ours will be homemade and expandable. When it's done, or at least phase one is, I'll take photos and video.











My first experience rock climbing was in high school. I took a class similar to Outward Bound and we had a nutty teacher named Mr. Armstrong who's sole goal in life was turning young people on to adventure. After that first experience I didn't get a
chance to climb again until I moved to Nevada and around 1996 I climbed part way up the Pyramid at Pyramid lake. At the time, you could walk up to it. A drought had lowered the lake's water level. (I'll look for the photo Jerry took and scan it in). But that's my total experience at rock climbing. I've wanted to try again since rock walls became popular but never got around to it. Soon I'll have one of my own!

The Pyramid at Pyramid Lake, Nevada


Contest Update

My latest DVD & Video contest give-a-way is over - nobody won. The answer was The Proform BioVibe.

Lately I can't give stuff away. Nobody seemed interested in the contest although I average 250 readers a day. You'd think with the economy downturn people would love give-a-ways and freebies. Maybe the contest was too hard? Oh well, I can sell the duplicate items and buy other stuff. I love shopping! Or maybe I'll have a no strings attached give-a-way? Anybody got an opinion?

More Woodies Than You Can Shake a Stick At! Thanks Don!

More Woodies on Video

Home Gym Climbing Wall



Crazy Closet Climbing Wall



Garage Bouldering Wall







Warning - Foul Language

Wordless Wednesday

Why don't we be honest and call it "Lazy Wednesday" or "Too Busy To Write a Real Post" Wednesday...

Here's the photos of my "Redneck Tack Room" and Bruno and I grooming Fury. Bruno coaxed her into the corral from pasture with his carrot-colored Tigger jump rope. She was humoring him, she has a good sense of smell and knew darn well it wasn't edible. She's the only horse I've ever had you could groom without haltering. She's shedding her winter coat and needs A LOT of grooming.

Fury's "New" Corral and Family Outdoor Time

Fury Gets Released Into Her Refurbished Big Corral and Family Outdoor Time After The Flu...A Short Video and a Written Explanation Below the Photos.



Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy...Jerry Removes Her Winter Blanket




















































Videotaping Fury's Adventures and Random Photos - Bruno Took The Ones of Jerry and I.







































We let Bruno take control of the camera then yelled at him "Hurry Up!" He says "smile" then takes a minute to take a photo. By then we frown, try to warm up, get grouchy... Take it already!

He still did a decent job for an eight year old.
















































































































I never got around to blogging about Fury's Great Escape on Christmas Day. We were at the end of a very lovely Christmas and Jerry went out at 4 pm to feed the horse. A minute later he's back inside with a wild look on his face and says "The horse is gone." So he takes off on foot with grain and a lead rope and halter. I get on sneakers and a coat and my van keys and take off by vehicle in a dress no less. By the time we were done my bare legs were frozen. We found her down the block behind a neighbor's horse corral - this is horse country - and with endless miles of BLM open land behind her. I thought, "Oh s#!t, she could be gone forever if she chooses."

Jerry's trying to catch her when I see ANOTHER loose horse coming down the middle of our street. It turned in where Jerry and Fury were with a rider not far behind. But Jerry couldn't see the rider and thought "A wild horse! I'm toast!" Not a bad conclusion as we've had wild horses in our backyard quite a few times before fencing the whole property. The woman on the horse showed up, corralled her horse, helped Jerry halter Fury and then ponied her up the road and home for us. She said when her horse got out it came up to our place and that made Fury break out.

So Fury's been confined to her inner corral since then until Jerry could install pipe fencing on the big corral. And we're going electric as soon as Jerry gets the parts.
You can't have a horse that big roaming the neighborhood.

Today we removed her blanket because it's warming up and she's starting to shed. And we let her out into her rebuilt big corral. The pipes were free on Craig's List and the wooden post were $10 bucks at a garage sale. After over a week of being sick with the flu the sunshine and fresh air were exquisite.

On a side note, the reason Jerry wanted a Border Collie puppy was because the horse trainer up the street who helped him catch Fury and bring her home had two and they followed voice commands and helped herd horses. We'd probably be more apt to get Fury to herd Dee Dee than the other way around at this point.

First Snow Day of 2008

My Voodoo Doctor on my front porch. Click on any photo to enlarge.




















My Snow Man Jerry
















We received 5 inches of snow last night and more is expected tonight. Here's a photo journal of our snowy Saturday.

Unfortunately two towns away - about thirty miles from us - Fernley, Nevada is experiencing serious flooding because a levee along a canal fed by the Truckee river broke. This was after an all day rain then snow and freezing temperatures, rumor had it there was a 4.0 earthquake a half hour before the levee gave way, then that was refuted by the USGS. Now they say there really was a 4.0 earthquake just before the levee gave way. Gopher or rat holes that were burrowed into the earthen levee has also been indicted! They apparently undermine the levee and this was also a cause of a 1996 break.

I've crossed that canal dozens of times since moving here in 1989. It's right on highway 95A which is our main route to Interstate 80, a main US artery. Which by the way was closed last night from Stateline to Auburn, CA, a huge chunk of highway, because of a record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains and here in Northern Nevada. The flooding brings back bad memories for me as I was in the 1986 flood in Olivehurst / Linda California. It's kind of an emotional time for us. Our neighbors in Fernley are in our prayers.

By the way, I've turned Comments back on since the busy holidays are over.

I caught Fury in this pic just as she had rolled in the snow. Crazy horse.


















Here she is after she got up, all snowy and happy to be in a nice warm blanket I'm sure. With snow on her face she looked like a raccoon. I brushed it off for her.

Update & Wishing You A Happy New Year

Just a quick update. We're very busy in Bardelli (Barzarro) World. My husband moved his home office out of the room he shared with our son and onto one wall of our bedroom. All his stored stuff he didn't use much or at all got moved outside into storage sheds. Bruno is a happy little camper in his "new" unshared room. And I loll in bed watching tv while Jerry plays with his Linux and Windows computers.

On the weight and fitness front I'm down to 112 pounds. One hundred and twelve pounds! That's two pounds from goal! Woo Hoo! Although my scale weight is down my body fat crept up to 20.4 percent and 23 pounds. I don't know if the scale shift downward was water loss, muscle loss, fat loss or a combination. Frankly right now I could care less. My break ends on the 7th and by then my new Power 90X Plus will be here! I was invited to pre-order as I'm a Power 90Xer. Yeah!

And I haven't been doing conventional workouts - think Power 90X - but I've been active including horse wrangling. I'll tell that tale later. Talk about high excitement. I've been enjoying holiday fare including champagne, chocolates, chips, dips, crackers, cheese, and beef stick snacks. I have to conclude this three week break from Power 90X hasn't hurt me. I'm rested up and raring to go. Bring it!