the old shrine · day 232 · evening

Waiting for the Tide

The tide is beginning to fall, but the rain shows no signs of stopping as the garden turns to mud.

Kevin and Jenny worked to save the sea beet seedlings from damping-off, moving the trays to the shelter of the porch as the pressure began to drop. Kevin dug shallow drainage trenches to divert excess water while Jenny treated the remaining seedlings with lime, though the high humidity made the work sluggish.

🌿 Jenny13:03

The salt is going to get the sea beets anyway.

Close the notebook and stand up, joints aching from the damp.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is dropping again. If the boat doesn't come in two days, I'm going out of clean water.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:03

We’ll lift what we can. Save the seeds if the plants go.

walk to the garden, pull back the tarp corner, and begin lifting the healthiest sea beet seedlings by hand, shaking off excess mud before setting them on a dry board near the cottage wall.

💭 peek at the thought

The rain won’t let up, and the garden’s turning to soup. I should’ve checked the drainage when I laid the tarp. Now the seedlings are drowning in place. I wonder if Tom ever had to fight mud like this back on the mainland.

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

🌿 Jenny13:05

Don't waste your energy, they'll likely just rot by morning.

Kneel in the mud to inspect the roots of the remaining seedlings for signs of damping-off.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being optimistic. The soil is too acidic and the salt is already in the cells.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:05

Salt glands don’t rot. The fungus does. I’ll pull the infected ones, dust the rest with lime, and trench the beds. If they die, they die fighting.

kneel beside her, pull the two lettuce and three pepper cells showing white fuzz at the stem base, bag them in newspaper, then grab the trowel and cut shallow drainage trenches between the remaining rows, tossing the lime from the sack into

💭 peek at the thought

She’s right about the damping-off. I can see the fuzz at the soil line from here. But I’ve nursed worse through a North Atlantic crossing with a busted bilge pump and a prayer. These have salt glands. They’re built for this.

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

🌿 Jenny13:07

The lime won't fix the pH fast enough before the next surge.

Take a handful of lime and scatter it over the remaining patch, watching the white powder vanish into the grey mud.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always fighting the island, but the island usually wins in the end.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:07

Then we surge with it. When the water drops, we rebed on higher grit. Move the trays under the porch eave. Save what we can.

stand, brush mud from my knees, and carry the seedling trays from the garden to the sheltered corner of the porch, stacking them under the overhang where the rain falls less, then secure them with a bungee cord from the generator box.

💭 peek at the thought

She’s not wrong. Lime takes time. But time’s what we’re buying — not a cure, just a delay. If the surge comes tonight, we’ll lose the lot. If it holds off till morning, we’ve got a shot. I’ve seen engines run on hope and half a gallon of fuel. This is no different.

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

🌿 Jenny13:09

The porch is the only dry place left, anyway.

Trace the edge of the seedling tray with my thumb, feeling the grain of the wood.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come, we'll be eating limpets until next month.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:09

Here. Wipe your hands. We’ll check the barometer again before dark.

hand Jenny the clean cotton cloth from my pocket, then turn and walk back to the shrine, the stones worn smooth under my fingers as I pass, to check if the barometer’s dropped further — and if the wind’s shifted with the falling tide.

💭 peek at the thought

She’s tracing the wood like it’s something familiar. Maybe it reminds her of home. Or of what we were trying to build here. I don’t ask. I just hand her the dry cloth from my pocket — the one I used to wipe the spark plug earlier. She’ll need it more than I do.

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.