Never Too Old

This shot is from Barton Springs at Austin, Texas on our June vacation.

Danger Man

" Danger Man" braves all manner of potential disaster, be it man made or natural in origin. "Danger Man" faces things that would make Rambo shutter in fear and "The International" ball up in the fetal position under his blankets. All he needs is his bottle and flippers!

Hallowed Halls

This will be the last shot in my series from the Texas State Capital in Austin, Texas. This shot is from the Rotunda looking down the eastern corridor. Each side of the corridor is lined with the offices of elected officials.

Venerable Seating

Also from the House of Representative's Chamber of the Texas State Capital Building at Austin, Texas...

Texas House of Representatives Chamber

Well this is it - the Texas State House or Representatives Chamber at the Texas State Capital Building in Austin, Texas where each one of the chairs pictured above is filled with the fat rear end of one of our elected officials whenever Congress is in session. Whether you participate or not the House members that occupy this room, along with the Senators in the corresponding Senate Chamber, are making the decisions that impact how you live your lives! As politicians in Washington mull over how to spend a trillion plus dollars to solve a quasi "emergency" in our nations health care system (now where was that in the Constitution?) one of our Texas lawmaker's newest laws goes into effect on Saturday.

Effective September 1, the 61 page document called house bill 1831, gives local law enforcement officials the right to arrest anyone if they refuse to leave the area, should a mandatory evacuation be called. This is a sweet bill that would treat you like your were Branch Davidian David Koresh should you decide to stay home during a storm instead of risking your life on an evacuation. All this in the name of public safety and saving us from ourselves. God protect us from those that would confine us to a cradle for all our lives so that we don't have to be confronted with the challenges of real life!

Texas State Capital Building 2

This is one of the smaller assembly rooms near the floor of congress in the Texas State Capital Building in Austin, TX.

Texas State Capital Interior

Apparently one of the things you get for your money when you commission a building for 3 million acres of land in remuneration is lots of details. It seems to me that you can't stand anywhere in the Texas State Capital Building in Austin, Texas where you don't spot some detail in the architecture that is a true work of art. I think a photographer could spend a week there just shooting all the detail work that went into the construction of this great historic building.

Texas State Capital Building 2

from: http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/SPB/capitol/texcap.htm

Completed in 1888 as the winning design from a national competition, the Capitol's style is Renaissance Revival, based on the architecture of 15th-century Italy and characterized by classical orders, round arches and symmetrical composition. The structural exterior is "sunset red" granite, quarried just 50 miles from the site. Additional structural support is provided by masonry walls and cast iron columns and beams. The foundation is limestone. Texas paid for the construction not in dollars, but in land: some three million acres in the Texas Panhandle that would later become the famous XIT Ranch.

Texas State Capital Building

The next few days will feature a series of shots from the Texas State Capital Building in Austin. I'm starting things off with this exterior shot which I'm sure has never been photographed before!