TGIF!

See here.

On the banks of these rivers are the same kind of land as I have already described, and upon one of them a remarkable natural curiosity, being a bridge of solid rock forming a more regular arch than you can well conceive where it is certain no human hand has ever given it assistance. The width of the arch at the surface of the water is 25 ft, the perpendicular height from the water four feet, and the rock itself in the center 6 ft. The breadth of the bridge is 33 ft covered with trees and makes a most romantic appearance. I passed under it in the four oar’d boat only by holding my head down. The water being about 7 ft deep this bridge is about a mile and a half in a direct line from the mouth of the river, but by the winding about three miles upon some of these rivers may be seen the remains of old Indian fields which I suppose must have been the Yamasees [it was the Tequestas, actually]. . . .

Welcome

Arch Creek, in North Miami-Dade County, flows beneath a natural bridge

From Wikipedia here.

In 1957, the first of many threats against the future of the natural bridge materialized. The bridge was endangered by a plan to drain low lying areas as part of a flood prevention program. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to blow up the bridge, or re-route the creek. A 1957 newspaper article announced that "the bridge must be sacrificed for better drainage of the area." Protests from members of the local Audubon Society, the Historical Association of Southern Florida and the Dade Conservation Council prevented any of this destructive action.

Things remained quiet until the 1970s, when Arch Creek became the property of the Chrysler Corporation. Their plans called for the construction of an automobile showroom, and a new and used car agency. In 1972, Chrysler requested a zoning change from the City of North Miami, which would have allowed them to pave the area and build a garage on the property. Vigorous opposition came from the Tropical Audubon Society, the Miami-West India Archaeological Society, the Keystone Point Homeowners' Association, and the members of the Arch Creek Trust. After almost a year, of intense lobbying the State of Florida agreed to purchase the land for a state park. The State's Land Acquisition Trust allocated $822,000 to buy 7.9 acres (32,000 m2) of property east of the Creek.

A group of local citizens, who later formed the organization Arch Creek Trust, went to Tallahassee in February 1973, to finalize the agreement. On the night they returned, the natural bridge collapsed and fell into the creek. Rumors of sabotage ran through the community, and the Metro-Dade Police Bomb Squad was called out. Nothing was discovered, and experts generally agreed later that the fall was probably due to constant vibrations from passing trains, or erosion, or just old age and decay. In the years that followed, there were various efforts to restore the bridge, clear the property of trash and save additional land in the area. . . .

(The bridge has been totally restored, by the way.)

Thursday night personal

E. just called (kind of late). (He usually calls at around 11:30.) (Good I'm taking flex time tomorrow a.m. and can stay up a little later tonight.) He'd been out to Flanigan's with co-workers after work. (What I'd thought.) Time to shut down.

Monday night personal

Had to work 1:00 to 5:00 yesterday, so that killed the day (and Saturday night). On top of that, the ING Marathon was going on downtown and streets were closed. Got off the bus several blocks from my building, before the bus headed west (i.e., not in the direction I was going), and then I had to thread myself through a metal barricade to reach my building (or else be late to work). Bus had been late (because of the snarled traffic, no doubt) and I didn't have time to stop off at the Checkers by Omni for chili dogs (got sandwiches at CVS instead on my walk to my building).

Was hungry when I got home, so drove over to the nearest Taco Bell. Hadn't been to TB in ages. Tried a couple of things I'd never had before (I don't think): a chalupa and an enchirito (definitely never had this). Won't get either again. Didn't care for the doughy chalupa wrapper - not much flavor there, and not much meat but a lot of toppings. The enchirito is a lot of fatty goop (or goopy fat). But I also got my staples: a Mexican pizza and a regular beef hard taco (also took four tacos home, which I ate cold for breakfast today). Mexican pizza was not the best, however - no scallions and meat layer was lacking.

Tonight I caught up with some chores. Ran dishwasher (meaning: emptying the dishwasher and putting all the rinsed-off dishes piled up in the sink into the dishwasher and washing them, and also sanitizing the sink). Also made a West African Tuna Casserole (from Joy of Cooking). (Don't do the au gratin.)

I usually always cry at "Interventions" and tonight was a good one ("Suzon").

Now "First Week In" - never seen it before. An attorney in jail! Also a gay 22-year-old who was driving drunk. And a father who assaulted his son.

Haven't heard from E. tonight. (His night off.) (Beer time!) (Plus he had some Jäger in the freezer.) (Also have Jäger in the freezer.) (Did get a call from the Alan Grayson campaign.)

[12:14 a.m.]  E. just called. He said he was "starving" and was in the car, driving to the nearby McDonalds. (I said no French fries.) (He eats enough of those from work and says he wants to lose some weight.)

He called back from home and all is well. (E.'s nites off always worry me a little.)

Nitey.

Saturday night personal

E. prevailed upon me to stay over at his place last night.  Had a nice time.  Watched a lot of "Dr. G."  We also paid some bills on his computer, and I checked for Windows updates.  I think I'm going to try to find a set of speakers for his computer, since the sound is pretty tinny. (He said he'd like speakers vs. a headphone.)

Watched a new SyFy movie tonight about an impending volcanic eruption beneath downtown Miami ("Swamp Volcano").  (Apparently it had been renamed from "Miami Magma.")

Have to work from 1 to 5 tomorrow, so will go to bed a little earlier than normal for a Saturday night.

E. called a couple of minutes after I posted this. He had a busy (successful) night, and someone slipped him a $100 bill for Xmas.

Thursday night personal

No working tonight after work. I was making gravy last night till past 10:00.

Just sliced off some more chicken for tomorrow's lunch (and spooned on gravy). No more chores tonight. Been busy at work. Need R&R. Just too bad that TV is so lousy on Thursdays. But lots of coverage on the Florida election campaign on MSNBC. Glad I don't have to choose between Gingrich and Romney (but I'd hold my nose and vote for Romney).

I think I'll watch "The Amityville Horror" on SyFy at 9:00 (a bad remake of a bad movie). (But it gets 5.8 out of 10 stars on IMDb.) (I may have seen it before - with a very toned Ryan Reynolds, with a beard.)

The house in Amityville on Long Island, NY

(The house doesn't really have the creepy windows)

See here and here.

[Later] Shortly before 11:00, got a call from E. He's going out for drinks to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. Told him to be careful. (He's driving.)

Wednesday night personal

Playing hooky from the gym tonight. Actually, I had a lot to do (and still doing it). Had forgotten to get cat litter the other night and ran to the store for that, then got gas. Roasted a chicken and making pan gravy (made stock of giblets for that, too). Major cat box cleaning, which is a big chore these days with Boozy's kidney condition.

Just finished up the gravy. Had put the drippings in the freezer to make it easier to skim off the fat. Then added that to the reduced broth, plus a packet of chicken gravy mix (don't always use, but this was Publix brand on sale, so was experimenting), some Wondra ("gravy flour"), frozen thyme sprigs, fresh black pepper, etc. Came out excellent! (I never used to use packaged gravy mix, but sometimes there aren't enough drippings - especially with roasts - so I supplement.) (And sometimes I don't have the time to do an elaborate gravy - I just eat the drippings with a spoon.)

Wondra is also great for making crêpes (per Julia Child). (Haven't made them in ages, however.) (Used to make Crêpes Suzette.)