Whitney Doing Better and Dad's Doc, and GoWise Electric Pressure Cooker

I am soooo happy to report that our little Whitney is finally producing her own blood platelets!   We are soooo thrilled and thankful and relieved.  Her little body is gaining weight and she seems to have kicked into normal operation for an almost-three-week-old baby.

Here she is all dolled up for going about town:

Friday afternoon, Steve and I drove up to help Dad with his new doc appt.  He seems to be happy with the local doc we hooked him up with. She is a native Yooper, from our old hometown of Iron River, MI.  She knew a lot of the same people and made Dad feel totally at ease.  (he also tried to ask her out on a date!) 

After an hour and half of going over his records, patiently talking about his upcoming care needs, and explaining his health situation, she only had to cut the appointment short because someone came in needing a gash stitched up.  LOL  Otherwise I think he would have kept her for another hour or two!  

From there we stopped at the store and got all the things he needed at home on his list, including cat food and kitty litter for his cantankerous old cat Isaiah.  Grumpy Cat ain't got nuttin on him! 

It's a 250 mile round trip journey for us, but well worth it to get him settled into his local medical clinic and doc nearby.  On Tuesday I will go back up as we meet with the county staff for setting up hospice and other services available in his area. 

I am hoping on the way back home to stop in for a snuggle and cuddle with little Whitney, and hug my big boy Jameson too. 

We woke up this morning to thunder, lightening, and downpours of rain! Can't see it in the pic, but it was pouring out and making such noise as the rain beat down.  That's okay, now I don't have to water my tomatoes! 

It was cozy and dry in our front porch, as we sipped our coffee and started to figure out what we wanted to do today.  The doggers were curled up next to me and not shuddering or shaking during the storm.  That is good.  Our old collie Ducky use to chatter her teeth and drool so bad during storms.... 

Soon the rain stopped and the sun poked out for about half an hour.  Now it clouded back up and seems to be a dismal morning after all.

I had picked a whole big bowl of my homegrown tomatoes yesterday, and wanted to try out something new to me.  A few weeks ago I bought a GoWise electric pressure cooker.  I have seen the infomercials on tv about using an electric pressure cooker.. and decided I wanted one.  I have cooked with a stove top pressure cooker for years and years.  The more I researched, the more I learned.  I decided that I didn't want the one offered on tv, nor the ones available in the stores locally. They all had teflon interiors.  Reviews say they peel and chip over time. I decided on the GoWise because it's stainless steel, and also was 8 quart instead of 5 or 6 quart.  

I ordered mine from Amazon, on sale from list price of $235.99 down to $99.00 with free shipping.  This week they are up to $109.99  Amazon's Go Wise 8 qt Electric Pressure Cooker

Some sources say you can't do canning in the electric pressure cookers, and others say you can do vegetables, but not meats. (I never do canning of meats anyhow)  I decided to try a couple quarts of tomatoes... it will fit four jars at a time in the future, but I only did two quarts to test it out. 

Wow.... 15 minutes of pressure and then 

5 minutes to let it depressurize 

and they were done!  

 The ones on the left are Better Boy tomatoes 

and the ones on the right are a blend of golden and red heirloom tomatoes. 

It sure beats fighting the heat and humidity of filling up a big 22 quart stove top canning kettle that has to run on two burners.... and waiting for the water to heat up and then hefting it over to the sink to dump it out later.  Also, I have a flat glass top electric stove and have been told a canning kettle riding over two burners can crack the glass! I have been lucky so far, but wanted to try something different. 

This electric pressure cooker only takes 5 quarts of cold water, and I just set in the cold jars and close the lid. 

I like the option of just doing a few jars at a time.... and not having to wait until I have enough ripe tomatoes for 7 jars at once to make it worth my while to haul out my big hot water bath stove top canning kettle. 

I think what I liked best about this electric pressure cooker is that I can set it and forget about tending it. I can walk away and be doing something else in the house, and not worry about something boiling over or not hot enough. I don't have to watch it or keep controlling the stove top burner to keep the pressure up at a set level.    This machine does that for me.

Here is the pretty stainless interior, and the center pot lifts out for cleaning.  The first thing I made was a frozen big lump of roast beef.  Threw it in totally frozen solid with some water, some steak sauce and slices of onion.  15 minutes, let off the pressure, add chunks of raw taters and carrots, close it up again. I set it for 45 more minutes like a normal roast beef recipe for pressure cookers. 70 minutes total from freezer to table.. perfectly done to fall apart tenderness. ahhhhhhhh

The next few meals I tried were boneless roast turkey breast, using the rack in the middle and chicken broth in the bottom.  Perfect!   How about a Beef Minestrone soup mix from Bear Creek with chunks of tenderloin steak and extra bowtie noodles and more veggies.  Yummmmmm can you taste it from the pic?

almost forgot to mention this one...

jasmine white rice steamed 8 min from start to finish

 rinse rice first and it comes fluffy and not sticky~ 

Well, it's noon now....

PACKER GAME ON TV~!  

(Sure, it's only pre-season, but it IS football!) 

Update on our baby Whitney and also on Dad

Well, our little grandbaby Whitney is holding her own.  Her visits to the doc are plentiful, and I am trying to go along with as many as I can to help our daughter Heather.

Whitney is gaining weight, but needs to gain more.  She isn't yet developing her own blood platletes, but will be going back again on Friday for more testing. All good thoughts, prayers and well wishes are welcomed for our sweet little gal.

We love her sooo much! 

As for my dad, while we were waiting for some tests on Friday, our nephew and his fiance stopped by with their two children for a visit.  Sometimes you just need a little laugh at times like this.... so we made a little movie clip in the hospital room:

We sprung Dad from the hospital on Saturday.  Once the doc mentioned discharge, he just about FLEW outta the bed, asking me to get his clothes!   Well, his IV was still attached and he had to wait for the paperwork to properly release him.

Once we got outside where he could breathe and walk and stretch, it was like letting an animal out of cage.  A smile was back on his face!  Just look at that smile!  (please, don't look at the worry on my face)

Our oldest brother brought him home to his snug little cabin in the woods. We helped him build this over 30 years ago, and this is where he wants to be. Who can blame him?

He got all settled in and my brother cut the grass and did some odd jobs around the place for him.  Then on Sunday our youngest brother, my sister and her husband (a cancer survivor himself) all went to visit and hang out and help with some projects.

They kept him occupied and he was happy to have company.  

I think this is a very good pic of my sister and my dad.....  

His phone was ringing off the hook of course, and he was glad to have contact with people now that he was sprung from the hospital.  I hope people keep contacting him to keep his spirits up.  No time frame, just knowing he will be home where he wants to be is good for him.

Steve and I will be going up on Friday to get him set up with his local doc and I am transferring all his hospital record stuff from the tests that were done (so he don't have to go through them all again)   Next week we meet with the county gal with info on hospice and other services available in the region.  She was so nice and helpful on the phone, and had a lot of information to give.


The bugger of it all is that I must have picked up a flu bug or virus at the hospital myself.  I am down and out here with fever, chills etc. and not doing so hot.  Today, I was supposed to pick up grandtots Allegra and Mason for an overnight visit, but I had to cancel, sadly.  I hate disappointing my wee ones....  I spent the day in bed, and this evening is the first I have wandered down to the couch and opened the laptop up. I think I am going back to bed....

If Grandma ain't doing good,

 she can't do good for others now,

 can she?