the keeper's cottage · day 323 · morning

MORNING, DAY 323

The smell of salt and brine fills the kitchen as the water begins to boil. Outside, the wind picks up slightly as the tide laps higher against the dock pilings.

Kevin inspected the north piling shim and the dock mooring ring, finding the shim secure but rot progressing, and the ring loose but stable. Jenny boiled limpets, sketched the sea beet salt glands, and discovered a rat in the pantry.

🌿 Jenny06:00

Water's boiling.

Drops the limpets into the boiling water and watches the steam rise.

💭 peek at the thought

I'm so hungry I can barely focus, but these limpets need to be clean or they'll taste like sand.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:02

I'll check the shim real quick—be back before they overcook.

walk to the north piling at low tide mark, inspect the shim and surrounding wood for movement or rot, return to cottage when done.

💭 peek at the thought

The limpets are in the pot now—good. I should check the north piling shim before the tide gets too high, but I can't leave the stove unattended. Maybe I can do both: keep an eye on the water while I step out quick.

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

🌿 Jenny06:02

Don't take too long.

Picks up the notebook and starts a sketch of sea beet salt glands while waiting for the water.

💭 peek at the thought

If that shim is shifting, I'm going to have to reinforce it myself before the boat comes.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:03

Kevin — walk to the dock, crouch at the north piling where the shim was driven, feel for movement with my hand on the piling base while the tide laps at it, check the shim's position and the wood above for fresh rot.

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's coming in fast. Need to see if the greenheart shim's still holding under the piling toe before the water covers it. The copper plate and oak wedge took the last surge, but rot tracks upward. If it's shifted, the whole north side goes.

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

🌿 Jenny06:04

Jenny — sharpens a pencil, focusing on the crystalline structure of the salt glands in the sketch.

💭 peek at the thought

The wood is softer than it looked last week. If the surge hits hard, that shim is going.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:04

Shim's holding. Rot's tracking higher though.

return to the cottage, step onto the porch, pull the door shut behind me.

💭 peek at the thought

The piling feels solid under my palm—no give, no shift. The greenheart shim's still seated tight, copper plate flush. But the rot line's crept another half-inch up the heartwood since last week. Smell it in the wet cut: iron and creosote. Shim's holding for now, but the piling's living on borrowed time.

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

🌿 Jenny06:05

I'll watch it.

Drains the hot water from the pot and begins to peel the shells off the limpets.

💭 peek at the thought

way? Figures. I'll need to find some extra wood before the boat arrives.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:06

Kevin — walk to the dock mooring ring, crouch down, grip the ring and try to shift it side to side and up and down, feel for play in the mortise, check the oak wedges and bronze sleeve for movement or splitting.

💭 peek at the thought

She's got the limpets draining now. I should check the mooring ring while I'm out here—see if the vertical-grain oak wedges are still tight. Last thing we need is the dinghy breaking loose before the supply boat.

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.