the dock · day 231 · afternoon

tide turns

The tide begins to creep back in, exposing the slick rocks again. Kevin and Jenny meet at the dock as the light fades.

Kevin and Jenny work at the dock as the heavy heat lingers and the tide recedes. Kevin investigates the dinghy engine's vibration, suspecting an alignment issue, while Jenny monitors the sea beet seedlings for signs of salt burn.

🌿 Jenny12:02

The tide's turning. Did you find the source of that vibration, or are we just hoping the bolts hold?

Wipe sweat from forehead with a sleeve and lean against a sturdy dock piling.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is still dropping. That heavy air isn't just heat; it's a warning.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin12:02

Bracket's skewed. Shaft's true. Vibration's the misalignment eating the cutless bearing. Needs the mast stepped to brace it proper, or a shim pack under the mount.

Wipe hands on a rag, set the throttle to idle, and kill the engine.

💭 peek at the thought

The vibration's in the shaft-to-mount interface, not the bolts. The bronze sleeve took up the slack but the bracket's still skewed — three degrees off true by the feel. She knows I know. Just wants to hear me say it.

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

🌿 Jenny12:04

Then shim it. I don't want us shaking apart when the supply boat finally decides to show up.

Look out toward the horizon, scanning for any change in the grey of the sky.

💭 peek at the thought

A shim pack. Simple, but tedious. I can't think about bearings when the air feels like wet wool and the pressure is sliding down.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin12:04

Brass shims in the workshop. Give me twenty minutes.

Walk back toward the cottage, head for the workshop shelf where the brass stock lives.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Supply boat's three days out, barometer's falling, and I've got brass shim stock in the workshop. Ten minutes with the file and the torque wrench and the mount sits square. No need to wait for the mast step.

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

🌿 Jenny12:06

Don't take longer. I need to check the way again.

Pick up the notebook and start sketching the way the light is hitting the rotting wood.

💭 peek at the thought

Twenty minutes. In this heat, that feels like an hour. The barometer is dropping too fast.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:07

Twenty minutes. I'll be back with the shims cut and the mount squared.

Push off from the piling, head inland at a steady pace toward the cottage workshop.

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching the light go, same as I'm watching the shaft run true. Twenty minutes is all it takes — file, stack, torque. Then back to the dock before the tide lifts the dock planks again.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny12:08

Jenny — make sketch: Dock Planks in Flat Light

💭 peek at the thought

He's so sure of his twenty minutes. Everything on this island takes longer than you think it will.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin12:09

None.

Reach the workshop door, push it open, and grab the brass shim stock and the metal file from the shelf.

💭 peek at the thought

Dock planks in flat light — she's marking the rot before the tide hides it again. Smart. I'll do the same with the shaft: mark the runout before I shim it blind.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

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