the dock · day 433 · midday

The Rising Tide

The water is now lapping at the lower edge of the dock planks. The sky thickens, and the temperature begins to drop.

Kevin spent the morning reinforcing the dock mooring ring and checking pilings to prepare for the supply boat arrival. Jenny stayed at the cottage tending to her ankle and drying the heirloom seeds on the porch. The sky thickens as the pressure drops slightly, signaling a coming front.

🌿 Jenny16:45

Kevin, secure the lines on the dinghy now! The water is already taking the jetty!

stand up slowly, wincing as my ankle throbs, and walk to the edge of the dock to check the mooring rings.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming in too fast for these rotten planks; if they go, the dinghy is lost.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:46

Move back from the edge. Now. I'll handle the dinghy.

grab Jenny's upper arm and steer her toward the cottage, then sprint to the dinghy and double the bow and stern lines around the mooring ring and piling, check the Yanmar starts on first pull

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's up faster than the barometer warned. Jenny's on a bad ankle at the edge of a failing dock. Dinghy's the only way off if the planks go. Get her back, get the lines doubled, get the engine warm.

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

🌿 Jenny16:47

I can see the rot, Kevin! The rings are going to pull out under the surge!

pull away from his grip, stumble toward the cottage steps, and watch the water swallow the first way plank.

💭 peek at the thought

way treats me like I'm made of glass, but I'm the one who knows how this wood is failing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:48

Inside, now. I'm bracing the piling — don't come back out.

help Jenny up the two steps into the cottage, shut and bolt the door, then run to the north piling with the crowbar and a greenheart offcut, jam it vertically under the scoured sister plank where the bolts are pulling through, and drive oak

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — the rings are working but the plank's gone. Water's eating the sister plank from below. If the piling sisters fail, the ring won't matter. Need to brace the piling now, not the ring. Jenny's on the steps, ankle flaring. Get her inside, then drive oak into the void under the sister plank before the next surge lifts it clean off.

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

🌿 Jenny16:49

The pressure is too high, it won't hold!

collapse into the kitchen chair, clutching my notebook to my chest, and watch the door as the wind begins to rattle the glass.

💭 peek at the thought

way's going to get himself killed trying to hold the island with a piece of wood.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:50

Stay put. I'm running a back-stay to the cottage ring.

sprint to the dinghy, grab the heavy weather line and come-along, run the line from the north piling head through the cottage's south foundation anchor ring, tension it with the come-along until the sister plank seats solid, then cleat it o

💭 peek at the thought

She's seen the scour. The greenheart's a prop, not a fix — surge'll lever it out. Only thing that'll hold is tying the piling back to something that won't move. The cottage foundation. Heavy weather line's on the dinghy, fifty metres. Can run it from the piling head through the cottage's south anchor ring and winch it tight with the come-along. But the door's shut, she's inside, and the wind's rising. Do it from outside, fast.

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

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