the dock · day 223 · dawn

Pre-supply boat preparations

Kevin and Jenny stand by the dinghy as the tide recedes from the pilings. Jenny checks the barometer reading while Kevin inspects the Yanmar engine mount for leaks one last time.

The morning air is heavy and humid under an overcast sky. The tide is receding rapidly, exposing the slick rocks of the tide pools and the rotting lower sections of the dock planks. The Yanmar engine sits silent in the dinghy, its bronze sleeve gleaming in the flat light, waiting for the final stress test tomorrow.

🔧 Kevin04:30

Holds steady. No leaks.

wipe hands on rag, step back from dinghy, glance at barometer reading over her shoulder

💭 peek at the thought

Engine's clean. No oil sheen on the water, no drip from the mount bolts. She's watching the barometer instead of the engine — knows the weather better than the iron.

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

🌿 Jenny04:31

The engine is fine, Kevin. The garden is what's actually failing us.

(Jenny turns away from him, walking toward the half-weed patch behind the cottage)

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking at the engine, but I'm looking at the rot in the soil.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:32

The wall's not high enough. Salt spray takes the tender ones.

follow her toward the garden, hands in pockets

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Peppers and lettuce gone to damping-off. Tomatoes holding but the wall's only two courses high on the seaward side. I said I'd build the sensory garden. Eleven months and it's still half weeds.

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

🌿 Jenny04:32

The wall is just a bandage. The soil is too acidic, and the fungus is moving in.

(Stop at the seedling trays on the porch and point to the grey fuzz on the lettuce cells)

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks a wall is the answer. It's not the spray; it's the soul of the dirt.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin04:34

Lime's in the shed. Can dress the untreated beds today. Raise the pH.

crouch beside the trays, pick up a pepper cell with damping-off, turn it in fingers

💭 peek at the thought

Grey fuzz at the soil line. Damping-off. She's been watching it spread cell by cell while I was turning wrenches on the Yanmar. Lime's crushed and ready in the shed. Should've dressed the beds weeks ago.

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

🌿 Jenny04:34

Put it back, Kevin. Gently. It's already gone.

(Reach out to steady his hand, then pull away before touching him)

💭 peek at the thought

Don't touch it. You'll just spread the spores.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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