the keeper's cottage · day 344 · midday

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

Kevin and Jenny shared a breakfast of limpets and sea beet cooked in corned beef fat while the shortwave radio yielded only a news fragment about Russian diesel. Kevin then went to the dock to drill the third through-bolt at the mooring ring on the falling tide, and Jenny tended the seedlings and sketched from the porch.

🔧 Kevin02:37

Kevin — walk into the kitchen, set the kettle to boil, and check the shortwave — power on, volume low, scan Tom's frequency first.

💭 peek at the thought

The porch boards are warm under my boots. Quiet inside — no radio chatter, no wind in the chimney. Just the kettle ticking on the stove. Third bolt still needs drilling at the mooring ring. Tide's rising but there's time before it covers the mortise. My hands remember the drill weight, the bolt torque. Jenny's been still a long time.

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

🌿 Jenny02:37

Morning. Or midday, I suppose.

Walk over to the stove and put the cast iron skillet on the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

Finally, some quiet. I can actually hear my own stomach growling.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin02:39

Mornin'. Kettle's hot if you want tea.

Lean against the doorframe, arms folded, watching the skillet heat. Glance at the radio shelf — spare insulator installed, tape clean, coax run neat. Still nothing.

💭 peek at the thought

She's moving slow. Skillet hits the iron ring careful-like. Ankle's still bad. She didn't say it, but the way she plants her weight — left side first — tells me everything. Radio's cold. No static even. Insulator held through the night but Tom's frequency's been dead for months.

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

🌿 Jenny02:39

I'll hold off on the tea. I'm starving.

Tip the fresh limpets and the de-salted sea beet into the hot skillet.

💭 peek at the thought

He's hovering. I can feel him watching me. I wonder if he's thinking about the radio or if he's just wondering why I'm not talking.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin02:41

Corned beef fat still in the jar?

Step to the shelf, pull down the jar of rendered fat, set it beside the stove. Keep one ear on the radio — still dead air on 6215.

💭 peek at the thought

Fat sizzles, sharp and green. Smell cuts through the salt air in the room. She's hungry — really hungry. Good. Means the antibiotics are doing something. Infection takes the appetite first. She's not limping as bad as yesterday either. Or she's hiding it better. Both possible.

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

🌿 Jenny02:41

way, I saved some from the last tin.

Drop a dollop of the fat into the skillet and wait for it to sizzle.

💭 peek at the thought

It's better than the dry oil. I need the calories for the hike today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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