the garden · day 616 · morning

Dawn at the garden

The overcast sky hangs heavy with moisture, and the smell of damp earth and cut wood fills the air as Kevin finishes the last cut of the spruce while Jenny shifts her weight to ease the sharp pain.

Kevin clears the fallen spruce trunk from the garden path to restore access to the seedlings. Jenny stays at the cottage to debride her infected ankle and apply a fresh sea beet poultice.

🌿 Jenny18:43

The path is clear enough for the boat, I think.

Limps toward the cottage, clutching the notebook to her chest while checking the poultice.

💭 peek at the thought

If this infection moves any further up, I won't be able to walk to the north ridge.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:43

Aye. Clear enough.

Stack the cut spruce lengths by the woodshed for firewood, then walk to the garden wall to inspect the mortar joints where salt spray hits hardest.

💭 peek at the thought

She's moving better than yesterday. The poultice is holding. Still need to check the garden wall mortar before the tide turns — salt's eating it faster than I thought.

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

🌿 Jenny18:45

I'm going inside to change the dressing. It's throbbing.

Sit on the kitchen chair, wincing as I unwrapped the gauze to reveal the swollen, angry skin.

💭 peek at the thought

He doesn't look at the leg. He never looks at the leg anymore.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:45

I'll put the kettle on. Bring the kit out when you're done.

Walk to the cottage, set the kettle on the stove, and pull the first aid kit from the shelf to inventory remaining supplies.

💭 peek at the thought

The red streaks haven't faded. She's running out of antibiotics. I should check the medical kit for what's left and see if the sea beet poultice is actually drawing heat.

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

🌿 Jenny18:47

I'll be out in a minute.

Clean the area with saline, biting my lip as the water hits the raw skin.

💭 peek at the thought

I'm running out of antibiotic, and the sea beet isn't working fast.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:47

Kevin — lift the kettle off the stove, pour hot water into the tin mugs, and set one on the table to cool for saline. Keep the other for tea. Wait.

💭 peek at the thought

She's tougher than she lets on. The saline's all used up — need to boil more water and let it cool for the next round. Kettle's singing.

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

🌿 Jenny18:49

It's getting tighter.

Apply the fresh sea beet poultice and wrap it loosely with a clean bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

The heat is moving. I can feel it pulsing in my shin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:49

How's the heat?

Set the mug of cooled boiled water and a clean cloth on the table beside her chair. Sit opposite, hands on knees, watching.

💭 peek at the thought

Tighter means swelling's still climbing. The metronidazole course finished yesterday. Four doxycycline doses left — maybe three now. If the streaks reach the femoral triangle by morning, we're past what I can handle here. Radio's working. Medevac forms are filled. Just need the call.

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.