Gray redux

Off and on rain or drizzle this morning.  Still not complaining, although we have acquired "flood watches" in some areas of the state.

Furnace work this morning, not as bad as possible but still not heaping piles of fun.  We have a Cast Iron Monster in the basement, an old coal-fired gravity hot water system that was converted manymany years ago with an oil burner.  The conversion sometimes requires repair, due to the flame jet beating directly on a fire-brick liner.  Some point in the future, we may have to move into the Century of the Fruitbat with a new boiler.  Doubleplus ungood in the financial department . . .

Supposed to clear off and warm up shortly, with weekend temperatures in the 70s F.  May be able to bicycle in bicycle gear, rather than ski gear.

Civil rights and civil wrongs

Debate in Maine on legalizing gay marriage:

pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php

www.bangordailynews.com/detail/104392.html

The Maine head of the NAACP drew a direct parallel between the current situation and 1950s in the south, where mixed-race marriages faced the same Biblical wrath . . .

The polls say this one is a tossup, with the "nays" slightly ahead but the difference well within the range of statistical error.  And that's on a public poll, rather than a poll of the legislators who will vote on the proposal.