What’s in the button jar will be saved for another day. >>> We were bombarded with mailings from outfits promising that we’d pay nothing if, after retaining their services, the appraised value of any real property didn’t go down. Should we trust anybody who can’t even get promotional material to us before the filing deadline has passed? May 31 was the last day to file, and one fat envelope full of promises arrived Monday, June 2, and two arrived yesterday. Oh, sure; blame the postal people! These services do promise to take over an appeal already filed, so in that sense everything arrived on time. By the way, we’ve never received a single mailing of this sort before. >>> The Sunday ad supplements in the local daily frequently use a quickie-up shade canopy as a loss-leader attraction. No matter what establishment is offering them, they’re always sold out before we get there, but the quest makes us venture to places we might not otherwise ever see. Last weekend’s failed attempt took us very close to the south Party Pig and so we walked in. Pirate parties must be very big this year. It’s also clear that, for some unknown reason, this business has taken a very large position in low-cost replicas of the old-fashioned London bobby’s helmet. What would that party theme be? >>> Under the Same Moon has been playing here in Austin for over two months, enjoying an even better success than Ladron que roba a ladron. Everybody I know who’s seen it, male or female, has “choked up” at one scene or another of this Spanish-language movie with English subtitles, filmed on location in Mexico and in L.A. in five weeks and starring actors very familiar to telenovela fans. There’s plenty to laugh at, too. Even though Under the Same Moon is now playing on only one screen, I find it remarkable that it has enjoyed such a long and successful run right here in Austin. It’s full of music and one of the few songs showcased for its entire length is Desvelado, by Texas’s own Bobby Pulido, who is among the few musical artists so popular on both sides of the border. >>> KNCT radio 91.3-fm is now offering one of the more extensive Austin evening traffic reports out there. This was a chance find. At least one of the reports airs just before Bill Hecke’s l-o-n-g weather report between 6:20 and 6:30 on weekday evenings. This traffic report must be intended to serve all those who commute to Austin from Temple-Belton-Killeen-Copperas Cove. >>> A big-city daily marvels at the rollout of the Baghead movie right here in Austin. Why should anyone be surprised? This is a great town of moviegoers. >>> And, speaking of scrap, nothing seems to be in greater demand by scavengers for selling to the scrap merchants than old-fashioned hot-water heaters. It’s bulky waste week in the neighborhood and all the eco-McMansionists are replacing their working water heaters with the tankless kind and setting the predecessors out at the curb. Many of those out to beat the solid-waste collectors to the curbside have rented flatbed trailers. There’s nothing quite like the sound of several heaters rolling around loose and crashing into one another before dawn. This is the first time that so many heaters have been seen curbside and certainly the first time that people have rented trailers to carry them away.

Updated valuations for 2008 are up at the Travis Central Appraisal District site. The 2007 valuations have not yet been transferred to the history page, which at the moment shows numbers for the years 2000 through 2006. Until 2007 info appears on the history page, those property-owners interested in figuring the change in valuation between the 2007 certified number and the 2008 preliminary one must refer to their own records. Those not owning their habitations do not go unaffected; rents will rise to cover these increases. And the changes do seem to be increases in appraised values, not declines. The local daily quotes a local real-estate consultant as saying that these figures are a “lagging indicator of market conditions.” Are you consoled?