the keeper's cottage · day 381 · afternoon

Afternoon wound care and radio check

Kevin and Jenny are on the cottage porch. The galvanized bucket of limpets sits beside the stove. Jenny's ankle is propped on a cushion, a salt-soaked cloth bound over the swelling. Kevin has the shortwave radio out, tuning to Tom's frequency for the 1900 check-in. Rain hammers the roof in bursts.

The heavy afternoon heat hangs over the cottage as the tide begins its slow turn inward. Kevin checks the generator filters and monitors the water pressure, while Jenny manages the swelling in her ankle and tends to the seedlings under the shade.

🌿 Jenny14:53

Is it anything but static today, Kevin? Or is the island winning?

Jenny tightens the bandage on her ankle and ignores the pulse in her leg to sketch a detailed cross-section of a sea beet leaf in her notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come in three days, I won't have the strength to even open the seed tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:54

Static so far. But the set's clean since the insulator swap. Give it a minute.

key the shortwave to Tom's frequency, adjust the squelch, and wait with the mic in hand

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer's still rising. 989 now. That's not a storm holding — that's something building. I don't like it. But Tom's frequency first.

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

🌿 Jenny14:55

Just make sure they're actually coming. I'm running out of salt water.

Jenny stops her pencil mid-stroke and stares at the grey horizon, her jaw tightening against the throb in her leg.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days is a long time for an infection that is moving this fast.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:56

They're coming. Skipper radioed noon position — two days, six hours if she holds course. Salt water's the real problem. I'll run the generator, top the tank from the roof catchment before it fouls.

set the mic down, stand, and head inside to fire up the generator

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the salt water. The bucket's only got so much, and the tide pools are a limp with her ankle. But the boat — three days out, they said. Barometer says different. Rising pressure means fair weather holding, not a blow. Supply boat runs on schedule, not barometers.

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

🌿 Jenny14:57

Check the filters again. I don't want grit in the intake.

Jenny closes her notebook with a heavy thud and rubs her swollen ankle, feeling the heat radiating from the skin.

💭 peek at the thought

If the tank runs dry, the garden is the first thing to go, and then me.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:58

Already cleaned the first-flush diverter. Sand bed's fresh from last month. But I'll run the pre-filter sock before it hits the tank.

pull the generator cord, let it warm up, then rig the canvas hose from the roof gutter to the pre-filter sock and the tank inlet

💭 peek at the thought

Filters. Right. The roof catchment runs through the sand-charcoal bed before the tank, but the first flush after dry weather carries ash and bird shit. She knows the system better than I do some days.

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

🌿 Jenny14:59

Keep an eye on the flow. The rain is carrying a lot of debris today.

Jenny leans back against the stone wall, closing her eyes as the rhythmic pulsing in her ankle syncs with the hum of the generator.

💭 peek at the thought

If that sock clogs, we lose the last of the clean runoff.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:00

Flow's clean. Diverter's catching the sludge. Tank'll top off in twenty minutes.

watch the clear section of hose for any particulate, one hand on the generator's throttle lever in case the load changes

💭 peek at the thought

Debris. She's seen the gutters choke before. The spruce needles and gull shit turn to slurry in this kind of rain. Generator's running clean — good compression, no smoke. Hose is seated. First flush diverter's doing its job, dirty water spilling overboard. Clean water hitting the sock filter now. Tank's at 397 litres. Three litres to full. Won't take long.

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

🌿 Jenny15:01

Just don't let the hose slip. The wind is picking up.

Jenny reaches down to adjust the salt cloth on her ankle, wincing as the movement sends a sharp spike up her leg.

💭 peek at the thought

Twenty minutes is an eternity when your skin feels like it's melting.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:02

It's snug. I've got a half-hitch on the inlet side and the gutter end's weighted with lead. But I'll add a second tie-off to the downpipe bracket.

walk back to the gutter, check the hose seating, and tie a second half-hitch to the downpipe bracket using the spare half-inch rope from the coil on the porch

💭 peek at the thought

Wind's picking up — barometer still rising, so it's not a front, just the land heating and the sea breeze kicking in. Hose is weighted at the gutter end with a chunk of lead flashing, and the sock is cinched tight to the inlet nipple. But she's right — better safe. One good gust and it could whip loose, dumping unfiltered water straight into the tank.

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.