the keeper's cottage · day 425 · midday

Midday Meeting

Kevin returns to the cottage with the broken hardware. The barometer on the wall clicks another notch to 981 hPa.

Kevin spent the morning reinforcing the dock moorings and checking the barometer as the pressure bottomed out. Jenny stayed at the cottage tending to the drying heirloom seeds and managing the infection in her ankle.

🔧 Kevin08:36

Barometer's 981. Lost the bolt. Housing's shot.

walk to the workshop shelf, retrieve the winch plate collar clamp and check bolt threads

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer still falling. Bolt lost to the tide. Dock won't hold another surge with that housing compromised. Need the winch plate collar clamp I rigged last storm — if the bolts didn't back out.

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

🌿 Jenny08:37

Use the winch plate as a shim for now. We just need the dock to hold until the boat comes in nine days.

Sit back on the porch chair, opening the small tin of metronidazole, and begin cleaning the dressing on the swelling of my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking at the metal, I'm looking at the heat in my leg. Everything is breaking today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:39

Aye. Grab the cedar wedges too — might help it bite. I'll re-wrap yours after.

walk to the garden shed, pull the cedar wedges from the rack, return to the dock with the winch plate and wedges in hand

💭 peek at the thought

Winch plate as a shim — not ideal but it'll take the play out of the mortise. Jenny's metronidazole course: she's on day two. Her ankle's swollen but no heat. She's doing it quiet, like always.

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

🌿 Jenny08:39

Just make sure the wedges don't slip out when the tide rises.

Apply the metronidazole to the red skin, wincing slightly as the medicine hits the inflammation.

💭 peek at the thought

If this infection gets deeper, I won't even be able to walk to the north ridge to finish the survey.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:40

I'll tap them in with the mallet — seat them below the waterline so the swell can't work them loose.

kneel at the dock mortise, slide the winch plate in as a shim, then drive the three cedar wedges tight against it and the piling with the mallet, checking for play after each strike

💭 peek at the thought

Wedges could work if I drive them tight against the plate and the piling. Jenny's metronidazole stinging — she's not complaining, but her jaw's tight. Infection's deep.

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

🌿 Jenny08:41

It looks solid for now. Don't over-tighten or the wood will split.

Wrap the bandage around the ankle, watching the barometer drop once more.

💭 peek at the thought

He's focused on the wood, and I'm focused on the pulse in my leg. If the dock fails, I'm stuck here with a rotting ankle.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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