I awoke this morning to the sound of rain.    IN THE DESERT!!!! THE DESERT I VISITED DURING THE DRY SEASON FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF WATCHING THE NIGHT SKY WITH MY TELESCOPE!!!!!!

 OK, I'm glad I got that off my chest.  The weather sucks at the moment, but it's supposed to clear off tomorrow evening, so in the meantime we're checking out the local attractions.  We started at the Silver City Municipal Museum - ain't that a catchy name??  It's located in an old mansion once owned by a local mining company executive.  Much of the first floor is dedicated to the owner and his wife.  I thought that was boring until I got to the other half, which consisted of a display of old wedding dresses from the turn of the century through World War Two.  Most of the dresses were owned by society types, and were accompanied by long descriptions of the social credentials of the bride and groom.  The photographs of working people were mostly unidentified.  I'd make some social commentary here, but I blacked out from sheer boredom at this point and Andy had to drag me upstairs to recover. 

 Upstairs, the museum has an interesting display of old mining equipment from the days of the silver mining boom (hence the name Silver City, get it?) and more local history, most of which would bore the whiskers off of an insurance actuary.  However, I did find this really interesting old ad for rocks containing radium, which you could soak in water (to make the water radioactive) and then you could DRINK THE RADIOACTIVE WATER to cure whatever ailed you.   Like being alive.   Anyway, I'm sure glad I came to Silver City.