the keeper's cottage · day 453 · midday

Midday Supply Boat Prep

Kevin and Jenny meet at the cottage as the sun reaches its peak. The barometer continues to drop, and the air feels heavy with the approaching storm.

The steady rain continues to drum against the cottage roof, filling the water tank to its 400-litre capacity. The air is thick with the smell of wet earth and salt as the barometer continues to drop to 988 hPa, signaling a worsening front.

🔧 Kevin12:01

We need to secure the dock before the tide turns. Shackles are loose, and if the wind shifts west like the log says, we could lose the mooring ring entirely.

Walk to the dock with Jenny, grabbing the crowbar and spare bronze bolt from the porch shelf as we go.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure’s falling fast — 988 and dropping. Storm’s coming in hard. I should’ve checked the dock shackles this morning. Now I’m stuck here with Jenny, the radio silent, and the weight of everything I haven’t said to Tom pressing like the sky.

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

🌿 Jenny12:02

The tide is already coming in fast. Let's check the bolts first.

Kneel on the wet wood and pry at the shackle housing, checking for rot in the sistered beam.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so worried about the wood while the salt is literally eating my skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:03

Watch the tell-tales on the starboard knee. If the sister plank shifts more than a mil under load, we back off and wedge it before the tide peaks.

Kneel beside her on the wet planking, crowbar ready, and pry the shackle housing up to expose the mortise and the void beneath the sistered knee.

💭 peek at the thought

She’s already on it. Good. Her ankle’s holding — no limp, no hesitation. She knows the dock better than I thought. The sistered beam’s the weak point; if the greenheart’s floating on that scoured void, the shackle housing won’t hold no matter how tight we torque the bolt.

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

🌿 Jenny12:03

It's soft. Look at the way the fibers are giving way.

way the crowbar into the gap and twist to lift the sistered plank upward, exposing the dark, pulpy interior of the beam.

💭 peek at the thought

If this wood is soft, the whole dock goes down when the boat hits it.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:05

We’ve got to cut out this rot and sister in new greenheart. Hand me the saw — I’ll mark the cut line while you hold the plank steady.

Take the bow saw from Jenny, kneel on the wet dock, and use the chalk to mark a rectangle back to sound wood, avoiding the corroded bolt holes. Then begin sawing through the pulpy section, grain by grain.

💭 peek at the thought

The beam’s rotted from the inside — salt and time. The greenheart’s only as good as what it’s sitting on. If we bolt through this pulp, it’ll tear out at the first gust. We need to cut back to solid wood, sister it again, and do it fast before the tide traps us.

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

🌿 Jenny12:05

I'm holding it. Just don't let it slip into the water.

lean my weight against the sistered plank to keep it steady while the saw bites into the rotted wood.

💭 peek at the thought

If we don't get this right, the next storm will take the whole thing off.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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