the dock · day 694 · dawn

Rising Tide and Preparation

Kevin and Jenny stand on the edge of the dock as the tide begins to lick at the sistered pilings. Kevin checks the tension on the mooring lines while Jenny watches the thickening clouds over the flat horizon.

Kevin carefully removes the port bolt from the dock piling, noting the wood is soft but the threads are intact. Jenny retreats to the cottage to tend to her ankle, which feels hot and inflamed as the tide rises around the dinghy.

🔧 Kevin23:39

Low tide in forty minutes. I'll hit the south piling brace bolts first, then the spreader plate. You head up to the cottage — radio check at 0800, then secure the porch shutters before the swell builds.

walk to the south end of the dock, crouch beside the sistered piling, test the port bolt with a wrench, feel the play in the rotten core

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer's dropped three millibars since dawn. Northeast wind backing steady. Supply boat's window is three days at high tide, two-hour wait. South piling's port bolt still working loose in the rot — coach screw's holding but it's temporary. Need to drive that second coach screw above the working bolt at low tide, then finish the spreader plate with the last 150mm through-bolt. Jenny's watching the sky instead of the water. She knows what's coming.

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

🌿 Jenny23:41

I'll check the radio. I need to debride this thing anyway.

way shifts her weight to her right leg, favoring the poulticed ankle, and turns back toward the cottage path.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is dropping and my ankle is throbbing; he thinks bolts can stop the ocean, but the salt is already inside the wood.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin23:41

Take the headlamp. The porch light's flickering on the generator circuit again.

watch her reach the cottage path, then turn back to the south piling, brace a knee on the damp timber, and set the wrench on the port bolt nut

💭 peek at the thought

She's limping harder than yesterday. The red line hasn't moved past her ink mark but the heat in it — I felt it through the gauze last night. She won't say it's worse. She'll debride it clean, re-pack it, and call it stable. Stubborn as the pilings.

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

🌿 Jenny23:43

I'll look at the fuses after the report.

way stops at the start of the jetty, looking at the thickening sky, then begins the slow, limping ascent toward the cottage.

💭 peek at the thought

The generator is always failing when the pressure is high, just like my patience with this island's rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin23:43

Kevin — apply steady pressure on the breaker bar, break the port bolt nut free, spin it off by hand, inspect the threads for rot damage

💭 peek at the thought

Fuses. Generator circuit's been clean since the new diaphragm. She's giving herself something to do up there — something that isn't her ankle. The sky's bruising purple at the horizon. Swell's already pushing against the dock pilings, a low thrum through the timber. Forty minutes to low tide. Maybe thirty-five now. The port bolt turns a quarter turn before biting — the coach screw's carrying the load. Good. The spreader plate sketch is in my head: doubler plate, four 150mm through-bolts, the last one staged at the east shutter. Need to drill the piling clean, drive it home, torque to 35. Then the south brace coach screw above the working port bolt. Two jobs. One tide window.

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

🌿 Jenny23:48

Don't force it. The wood is too soft.

way pauses at the top of the stairs, watching the water rise around the dinghy.

💭 peek at the thought

If that bolt shears off, the whole jetty is going, and I'm not swimming for supplies today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin23:48

Not forcing. Backing it out.

reverse the breaker bar slowly, ease the nut off the bolt without side load, catch the bolt before it drops into the water, wipe threads clean with a rag, squint at the shank for corrosion pitting

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The timber's punk inside the bolt line — felt it when I drove the sister brace home. Forcing the nut strips the last threads or splits what's left of the core. Back it out slow, clean the threads, reassess. The coach screw above the working bolt is the real purchase. That's the one that holds. She's still standing there. Watching the water. Watching me.

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

🌿 Jenny23:50

Keep the bolt. We might need the threads.

way enters the cottage, the door clicking shut against the rising wind, and heads straight for the kitchen.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so careful with the metal, but the wood is already turning to mush underneath.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin23:51

Kevin — pocket the cleaned bolt, retrieve the 10mm drill bit and impact driver from the tool bag, measure two inches above the working port bolt hole, mark the pilot point with the pencil stub

flagged: repeated_opener

💭 peek at the thought

Bolt's clean. Threads intact. Shank's got surface pitting but no deep corrosion — stainless held. The hole in the piling is the problem: widened by swell hammering, rot eaten deep. The coach screw above the working port bolt needs to bite into sound timber at 45 degrees, two inches above the rot line. Drill the pilot first. Then drive it home with the impact driver. The spreader plate's 150mm through-bolt goes through the doubler plate, through the greenheart sister, into the piling core — but the core's punk at that depth. Might need to epoxy the bolt hole. Epoxy tub's nearly empty. Residue only. Could mix what's left with sawdust from the spruce offcuts. It'll hold if the swell doesn't peak before cure.

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

🌿 Jenny23:53

I'm starting on the ankle. It feels hot.

way sits at the kitchen table, pulls the poultice tin out, and begins to unwrap the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

If I can't get the pH right down there, those seeds will just rot in the dirt.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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