I Wish I Had A Job

Came across this guy on the bridge over Lamar just south of 5th street.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Brown-Dumas Blacksmith Shop

From the plaque:

At the turn of the 20th century, the Brown-Dumas Blacksmith Shop was an integral part of Austin's thriving commercial core, where dirt streets and horses and buggies dominated the scene. Built circa 1905, the Brown-Dumas Blacksmith Shop is the only remaining structure of its era near this important intersection of Congress Avenue and West 2nd Street (originally known as Live Oak Street). The Austonian developer recognized the significance of this early brick commercial structure and resolved to incorporate it into the high-rise condominium tower.

The blacksmith shop was in serious disrepair when acquired in 2006 and restoration of the building was to be no small feat. Having stood vacant, abandoned and vandalized for many years, only portions of the buildings perimeter walls remained intact and the roof framing was caved in. Prior to the start of the preservation effort, the fragile and damaged structure collapsed during one of Austin's extreme wind storms in November 2006. Following the collapse, it was necessary to disassemble the building entirely, document the historic components, and store the materials offsite.

The Austonian remained true to their commitment to restore the facade. Plans were drawn up to reconstruct the historic storefront at the base of the new tower, using original materials and recreating the remains of the original signage found on the brick. As a result, the historic Brown-Dumas facade will live on as a reminder of the scale and construction of early 20th century buildings in downtown Austin.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Buford Tower & Kitchens Memorial Chimes

"On Town Lake at Cesar Chavez Street and Colorado stands the Buford Tower, its few brick stories dwarfed by nearby office buildings. Its appearance gives no clue to its current use and only scant evidence of it's original purposes. Here stands a relatively short tower flanked by flower beds and parking spaces and fronted by a semicircular drive. The setting is a small lakeside park. The acute observer might notice a fire hydrant next to the structure. The hydrant is a clue to the building's past. It was constructed in 1930 as a practice facility for the city's firemen.

The tower consists of six one-room brick stories with internal metal stairs. There is a basement in which practice fires could be built. Firefighters could practice aerial ladder work, flood the upper stories, scale the walls and conduct rescue drills through the windows. The tower was burnt regularly for 43 years until 1974 when it was abandoned in favor of a new facility in a location away from the downtown area.

For four years following its abandonment the tower, undisturbed by regular human activity, stood with it's paneless windows wide open and became a six story pigeon coop. It's condition, to say nothing of it's appearance, deteriorated.

In 1978 the wife of the tower's builder led a camping under the aegis of the Austin Chapter, National Association of Women in Construction, to restore the structure. The restoration included the installation of a carillon and the tower assumed a new function. It went from blazes to birds to Back within the decade. The carillon is capable of a variety of melodies and can be programmed to chime the hour or half hour.

On August 23, 1978 the old fire practice tower officially became the James Buford Tower and Kitchens Memorial Chimes. Captain James L. Buford was an Austin firefighter who was killed during a heroic rescue attempt and Rex D. Kitchens was the tower's builder."

CREDIT: - Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 06, Number 02, Summer 1988, J. P. Bryan, editor, Journal/Magazine/Newsletter, 1988; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45434 : accessed July 29, 2011), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation, Austin, Texas.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Night Wing

The Austin Chronicle describes the Night Wing Bat Sculpture as a "beautiful chunk of public art".  It is located in the small triangle across from the Austin American Statesman complex at the intersection of South Congress and Barton Springs Road.

From the plaque:

Nightwing

by Dale Whistler

The following donors gladly give the City of Austin this Great Bat, honoring Austin's most famous part-time residents, the Bats of the Congress Avenue Bridge:

Austin American Statesman

Austin Energy

Embassy Suites Hotel

Hyatt Regency Austin

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas

The Downtown Trust

Additional support provided by

Archilume, Inc.

Black & Vernooy, Architects

Clean Cut Landscaping

June 1998

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Balcones Canyonlands Preserve

Balcones Canyonlands Preserve includes more than 24,000 acres in western Travis County off Loop 360 and is devoted to the protection of endangered species and their habitat.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Arthouse at the Jones Center

Arthouse at the Jones Center is the oldest statewide visual arts organization in Texas and is devoted solely to contemporary art.  It is located downtown at 700 Congress Avenue.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Moontower

This is one of the 14 (I think) moontowers still located and in use in Austin.  This one is located at 9th and Guadalupe.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Travis County Texas Veterans Memorial

The Travis County Texas Veterans Memorial is located next to the Travis County Peace Officers Memorial on the south lawn of the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse across from Wooldridge Park.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Travis County Peace Officers Memorial

The Travis County Peace Officers Memorial and the Travis County Texas Veterans Memorial were dedicated on December 10, 2010.  They are located on the south lawn of the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse across from Wooldridge Park.  This is the Travis County Peace Officers Memorial.  Tomorrow will be the Travis County Texas Veterans Memorial.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Hill Country View from the Arboretum

Here's another view from the Arboretum area.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Arboretum Cows

This is Texas.  And it's Austin.  This means cows everywhere.  Even at the Arboretum.  These are by artist Harold Clayton.  There are others in Irving, Dallas and Milwaukee, WI.  If anyone from Milwaukee has a picture of the cows there, please send them my way.  At some point I will get pictures of the ones in Irving and Dallas as well.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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More Resurrection Garden

Another view of the Resurrection Garden.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Resurrection Garden

While not being an overly spiritual person myself, I find places like this a great place to simply relax and let everything go.  This is the Triumphant Love Resurrection Garden at the Triumphant Love Lutheran Church located nearby.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Our New View

Sorry for not having posted in the past few days as we were in the process of moving into a new location.  We still have a few boxes left to unpack, but things are starting to feel normal for us now.  This picture is basically right across the street from our new home.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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We're Moving

Sorry for the late post, but we're in the middle of moving.  We've got most of the house packed up and the movers will be here in the morning.  Our U-Haul truck has a Texas logo on one side and this Iowa logo on the other side.  The only downside is we're missing Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (Twitter: @azpeacemakers) in concert tonight!

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Left to Right

This is an original cartoon drawn by Ben Sargent (2011) for the special exhibit at the LBJ Library and Museum , Left to Right: Radical Movements of the 1960s.


From the left is Malcolm X, Abbie Hoffman, Jane Fonda, and Bella Abzug.
To the right is Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, William Buckley, and George Wallace.

From LBJ Library

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Hobby Building

As hot as it's been in Austin lately, it's hard not to jump into this fountain at the Hobby Building in an effort to cool off!

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Where Flowers Bloom....

"Where flowers bloom so does hope"
Lady Bird Johnson

This image was taken over the past weekend outside the LBJ Presidential Library on the UT Campus.

From LBJ Library

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Happy 4th of July!

Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country:
to right wrong,
to do justice,
to serve man.

From LBJ Library

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LBJ Fountain

This is the fountain at the LBJ Presidential Library. They only have it on for an hour out of the day, from noon to 1pm, due to the drought affecting most of the state. Luckily we were there to get to see it.

From LBJ Library

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Replica of San Lorenzo Monument #1

This is an exact replica of San Lorenzo Monument #1. It is on display at the University of Texas at Austin, just outside of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS).

From the plaque:

Replica of San Lorenzo Monument #1

Weighing 18 tons, this is an exact copy of the colossal head that was first discovered at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo, Veracruz. The original is now housed at the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa, Veracruz. San Lorenzo Monument #1 is a landmark work of art of the Olmec, an ancient Mesoamerican culture that flourished in southern Mexico 1500-400 BCE.

Gift of the Universidad Veracruzana to the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies 2008.

We wish to thank the following donors for their generous support:
Office of the President
College of Liberal Arts
Universidad Veracruzana
Mexican Center Advisory Council
Office of the Vice President for Research

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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J. P. Schneider Store

This is the J. P. Schneider Store located on the southeast corner of 2nd Street and Guadalupe. It's the last remaining historic building in that area of downtown. The building surrounding it is now offices for Silicon Labs. The store is now a BBQ restaurant.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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