the keeper's cottage · day 352 · morning

Supply boat watch and log entry

Fog still cloaks the water, lighthouse invisible. Kevin stands at the porch rail with the logbook, writing the supply boat ETA and weather notes. Jenny sits beside him, ankle propped on a stool, the grandmother's seed tin resealed between them. The barometer reads 1018 hPa, steady. A galvanized bucket catches drips from the leaking shutter.

Kevin tested the Yanmar under load at the dock and confirmed the vibration persists above half throttle, likely from the slightly skewed mast bracket. Jenny organized the grandmother's seed tin at the garden, separating viable packets from mold-damaged basil and noting the damping-off spread in pepper and lettuce trays.

🔧 Kevin09:49

Log's done. Supply boat ETA — two days, fair window. Yanmar note at the bottom.

close the logbook and set it on the table beside the seed tin

💭 peek at the thought

The numbers are clean. Supply boat in two days if the window holds. Barometer steady. Dock solid. Yanmar's only flaw is a bracket shim away from true. I've written worse logs with better odds.

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

🌿 Jenny09:49

Thanks. I hope the window actually holds this time.

Reach for the seed tin and pull it closer to my lap.

💭 peek at the thought

Two days. I can hold out for two days. I just need to keep this infection from turning into sepsis.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:50

It'll hold. Barometer's steady, wind's northeast. If it shifts southwest we'll know twelve hours out.

pour two mugs of coffee from the pot on the stove, set one beside her without asking

💭 peek at the thought

She's hedging. The window's held three of the last four runs. The one that didn't, we ate limpets for a week and the generator diaphragm held. She knows the odds. She's asking for something else.

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

🌿 Jenny09:51

I'm starving. I think there's some corned beef left.

Wrap my fingers around the warm mug and take a slow sip.

💭 peek at the thought

He's trying. The coffee is a peace offering, or maybe just a habit. My stomach is cramping from hunger.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:52

Five tins corned beef. Mackerel if you want fish. I'll fry the limpets from this morning with the beef fat.

pull the cast iron skillet from the hook, set it on the stove top, spoon a knob of congealed corned beef fat into it

💭 peek at the thought

Five tins corned beef, three mackerel, flour's gone, coffee's good. She's hungry and the ankle's keeping her off the garden. I should've built the raised beds higher last month. Too late now.

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

🌿 Jenny09:53

That sounds good. I'll take the limpets.

Look down at the bandage on my ankle, checking that the purple tracking own't moved past the gauze.

💭 peek at the thought

Limpets and beef again. I need the protein. My leg feels like it's made of lead.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin09:54

Tracking hasn't moved. You're clear.

drop the limpets into the hot fat, listen to them spit and curl, push the skillet handle back from the edge

💭 peek at the thought

She's checking the line I drew yesterday. Smart. Infection doesn't announce itself — it creeps. The gauze is clean, no new purple. Calf's healing.

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

🌿 Jenny09:55

I hope so. I'm starving over here.

Reach for the plate on the table and wait for the limpets to brown up.

💭 peek at the thought

Clear for now. If it starts spreading before the boat comes, I'm dead. I need those seeds.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin09:56

Thirty seconds. Don't burn your fingers.

slide the limpets onto the plate with a fork, set the skillet back on the stove, pull out the chair opposite her and sit down with my own mug

💭 peek at the thought

She's lighter than she was. We both are. The corned beef fat smells rich in the damp air. Simple food, hot pan, rain on the porch roof. This is the part that doesn't go in the log.

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

🌿 Jenny09:57

I'll be careful.

Pick up a limpet with the fork and eat it, tasting the salt and the fat.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being helpful. It's almost nice. I just want to eat and stop feeling this throbbing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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