the keeper's cottage · day 145 · morning

Radio check and transom work

Kevin stands at the dinghy with the new transom piece clamped and epoxy warming, ready to bed the scarf joint. Jenny is at the kitchen table, salt gland sketches complete, seedling trays thinned and returned to the shelter. The shortwave radio sits on the porch table, the new porcelain insulator mounted on the mast bracket, the old coax coiled beside it. The barometer reads 1013 hPa, steady. It is nearly eight o'clock.

The heavy western rain hammers against the cottage, forcing both keepers indoors. Kevin spends the morning checking the roof for leaks and organizing the damp seed tin, while Jenny monitors the germinating seed trays near the warm stove.

🔧 Kevin05:12

Radio check in five. You want the mic or me?

walk to the porch, pick up the shortwave handset, clip it to the bracket, power on the set

💭 peek at the thought

Eight o'clock. Time for the radio check. Insulator's mounted, coax coiled — nothing left but to key the mic and see if the trust hears us. If they don't, we're another ten days without word. Maybe longer.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny05:13

You do it. I need to check the sea beet before the rain starts.

Stand up, wipe hands on the apron, and walk to the stove to retrieve the sea beet leaves.

💭 peek at the thought

If the coax doesn't hold the signal today, we're just talking to the wind for another week.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:14

Right. I'll log whatever comes through.

key the mic, hold it steady, speak into it: "Sorrel Island, Sorrel Island, this is Keeper Kevin, call sign Victor-Kilo-Four-Three-Niner, standing by for scheduled contact, over."

💭 peek at the thought

She's avoiding the radio. Has been since the insulator failed. Can't blame her — static sounds like silence when you're waiting for a voice that doesn't come.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny05:14

Tell them the barometer is dropping. They need to know about the storm.

Take the tray of sea much off the stove and spread the leaves out on the paper towel to Ensure they don't clump.

💭 peek at the thought

He always sounds so formal on the radio, like he's trying to convince the mainland he's actually there.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.