toddcarruth.com

Jordan and Pippin when they were puppies.

So, I have two dogs; Jordan and Pippin. They are brothers, twins if you will, just like my sons. . (I had 3 dogs but the ex got the tiny one in the divorce) Anyway, over the past couple of years, Jordan has had some fatty tumors develop on his chest. You know, no big deal, they aren’t painful and they aren’t bothering him. Well, now he’s got a new one on his butt. In fact, I though it was his anal gland/sack

and so I took him to the vet this weekend. Turns out, they think he might have cancer and they had to do a biopsy and send it off to the lab to confirm.

You know, i never really think about pets  getting cancer and now I am having to balance the cost of treatment versus the quality of life (if it’s spread) and exactly how to handle all this with the boys.

Now there is still a small chance that it may be benigh but may I just take this opportunity to say that cancer sucks.

Hey there. Yes, I am still alive. Just had a really busy week plus I had to convince Google that my site was virus free. To top it all off, today is my birthday and when I walked into FOX this morning, there was cake waiting for me and about 10 birthday greetings in my work IM. Very nice! In fact, I already had a pretty good “birthday” golf outing yesterday at the Roy WIlliams charity golf tournament. Lots o’ goodies including a Reebok bag and shirt and hat and some “bed head” products and golf balls and t-shirts and free vitamin water- It was awesome! Course we had about 85 mph winds yesterday and so the actual golf playing was not so awesome. Planning on having dinner with my family tonight and I am SO going to go see IRONMAN this weekend. I AM IRONMAN!

Okay, so quick story about the fence. Big storm came through two Thursdays ago. Huffed and puffed and knocked many a tree down in Fort Worth and Hurst and Carrollton and all sorts of suburbs around Big D. Plus, the big wind tried to knock down my fence. My fence! Imagine the audacity! Well, actually, it’s my back common fence that I share with my neighbor. I guess he’s the “Wilson” to my Tim Taylor but I never really talk to him or ask him for advice on how to raise my boys. Anyway, the storm hits, the power goes out, lots of wind and the next day I notice that not 1, not 2 but 3 supporting posts are broken on the fence. I prop it up using a metal pole and a wooden stick and pick up a few of my roof shingles strewn across the yard. I then promptly take a nap at which time, “Wilson” stops by to talk about the fence. Sorry, I’m asleep. The next day, after work, I stop by his house to talk about the fence and tell him that my brother in law and I could probably replace the posts fairly easily. But I can’t give him this information because he’s not home. Saturday morning, I get up and notice outside my back door, that my backyard has doubled in size. Either that or my neighbor has decided to take down the fence without even asking me. Okay. Later that afternoon, when I see that he’s parked in his driveway with 6 large fence sections tied down to the back of his pickup truck, I offer to help move the pieces into the backyard with him. Turns out his wife wanted to repair the fence quickly because the cats were going stir crazy in the house. (Can’t cats climb fences?) And the reason he wanted to replace the fence was because the original one was 10 years old and falling apart. I agree to pay for my half because I remember when my dad replaced his common fence and his neighbor refused to pay anything.

Bottom line, it does look much better but last week I just noticed that another post is broken on my OTHER fence that I share with ANOTHER neighbor.  I wonder how long that metal pole will hold it up?

So, a friend of mine and regular commenter on this blog/website, Eric, said that he was getting a virus alert whenever he tried to access toddcarruth.com

Turns out that some malicious visitor from Asia had implanted a visitor counter to one of my posts using a wordpress exploit. I have now updated my software and hopefully the “virus” has disappeared.

Thank you for the heads-up Eric and my apologies to anyone who might have come across my site and feared for the computer safety.  Nothing malicious happened, they were just counting how many people visit tc.com.  I guess they were trying to determine if it was worth hacking into.  Trust me, my friends from across the Pacific, it’s really not worth it.  I mean sure, everyone who visits this site is extremely intelligent and has great taste but they are all far too smart to fall for your type of chicanery.  So begone and never sully my doorstep again!

Coming soon: The tale of the fence!

I am not a coffee snob. But I’m well on my way!

Look what I bought two weeks ago. Ah, oui , oui, it is zee french press! If you’ve never heard of a “French Press” don’t worry, I had no idea how this contraption worked before a month ago. Quite a few years ago, I remember my much older brother-in-law saying that he had made coffee in a French Press and all I could imagine was some large contraption that had a pull handle and a flat plate where you put the raw coffee beans and “pressed” the coffee juice out. (I have issues with my brain). About 6 months ago, I saw a Good Eats featuring coffee and Alton said that the closest way to get to good “espresso” type coffee without using an espresso machine was through using a french press.

And finally, every time I watch the fantastic intro to Dexter, I see him using this infernal machine and I say to myself, “I gotta get one of those.” And I did. Finally.

So, here’s how it works.

1. You put 3 or 4 cups of water on stove in a small saucepan set on high
2. Grind the coffee beans for about 15 seconds. You don’t want to get them as fine as you would for your drip machine.
3. Depending on the size of your press, put the amount of scoops of coffee you want into the bottom of the french press container.
4. Just before the water boils, take it off the stove and carefully pour into the press container almost to the top. Allow about an inch and a half.
5. Stir the water and coffee grounds up for about 5 or 6 seconds.
6. Cover the press container with lid/strainer combo BUT do not strain yet.
7. Allow 4 minutes for mixture to “brew.”
8. Slowly push down strainer all the way to the bottom. (Just like Dexter does! See pic above)
9. Pour into your favorite cup and be prepared for one of the smoothest cups of coffee that you have ever tasted.
10. Drawback is that if you add really cold cream, the coffee will get too cool too fast.
11. Should it really take me 11 items of an ordered list to explain a French Press.
12. Probably not but I can’t stop now.
13. It sounds like a lot of trouble to go through for coffee, but it’s kind of fun and elitist all at the same time. “Look at me, you swine swilling drips! I am the master of the French Press. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!”
14. Can’t end on 13. That would not be good.