the dock · day 691 · dawn

Mist and Mooring

The thick mist clings to the water, muffling the sound of the lap against the pilings. Kevin sits on a bench, checking the tension on the new mooring lines, while Jenny sits on the dinghy with her ankle elevated, watching the horizon.

The morning mist muffles the sounds of the island as the tide laps high against the dock. Kevin checks the structural integrity of the mooring ring while Jenny monitors the heirloom garden's progress in the damp air.

🌿 Jenny20:01

The tide is coming in early.

pulls a pencil from her hair and begins to sketch the rot on the remaining planks of the jetty.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days until the boat. If the mist doesn't lift, they won't even see the signal. My ankle is throbbing in time with the tide.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:03

Spring tide's two days early. Or the barometer's lying.

stand and walk to the south piling, crouch to sight along the brace where it meets the piling, checking for movement at the waterline

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — the mist makes the water look higher than it is, but the lines are singing a different note than yesterday. Tide's pushing hard against the new sister brace.

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

🌿 Jenny20:04

It's the pressure. Look at the salt line on the wood.

shifts her weight, wincing as the ankle pulses, and adjusts the brace slightly higher.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer isn't lying, it's the pressure dropping. If the water rises this fast, the garden will be submerged.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:04

Piling's working loose in the socket. Wedges seated but the timber's rotted deeper than the sister reaches.

pull the pocket knife, dig the tip into the piling at the mudline where the sister brace ends, lever a sliver out to check rot depth

💭 peek at the thought

Salt line's a good foot above the old high-water mark. She sees it too. The brace is holding but the piling's breathing — can see the micromovement where the epoxy meets timber.

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

🌿 Jenny20:05

We need to sister the whole length before the tide peaks.

reaches for her sketchbook to map the cross-section of the rot pattern.

💭 peek at the thought

If that way goes, the whole jetty follows. I need the dock to stay stable, but the island is turning to mush.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:06

Greenheart's on the dock. Three full lengths. Need the come-along and the 150mm through-bolts. You stay off that ankle.

walk back to the dock shed, haul the come-along and the coil of 150mm stainless through-bolts with washers and nyloc nuts, carry them to the south piling

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. The rot runs deeper than the sister brace by at least two feet. Next big swell takes the whole piling if we don't get timber against the full length. Greenheart offcuts on the dock — enough for one full-length sister if I use the cedar shims for fairing.

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.