the dock · day 696 · morning

Rising Tide and Pressure

The water is now touching the edge of the dock planks, and the stillness is finally broken by a faint, cool breeze from the west.

Kevin cast off the dinghy and started the Yanmar, but the engine ran rough with a persistent vibration above half throttle. Jenny limped up the north ridge path to the hilltop, finding the going slow on her injured ankle.

🌿 Jenny02:11

The tide is coming in fast. We need to get the gear off the jetty.

Jenny wipes the excess paste from her ankle and grips the seed tin tightly in her pocket.

💭 peek at the thought

The wind is shifting. If those clouds break, the north ridge will be a mudslide before I can finish the survey.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:11

Aye. Grab the ditch bag and the seed tin. I'll get the fuel cans and the radio.

walk to the shed and collect the two fuel cans, the handheld VHF, and the spare impeller kit, then carry them down the jetty to the dinghy and stow them forward

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's pushing hard and the barometer's still falling. We're not waiting for the supply boat — we're leaving on our own terms. Gear first, then Jenny, then me. The dinghy's ready.

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

🌿 Jenny02:13

Keep the radio charged. The barometer is dropping too fast for comfort.

Jenny picks up the ditch bag from the cottage porch and limps toward the dock, favoring her good leg.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come in eight days, we'll be out of fresh water and salt.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:13

Radio's charged. Spare battery in the bag. You take the bow seat — I'll handle the engine.

lift the dinghy's bow line from the cleat, coil it quick, and step aboard to the center console to check the Yanmar's fuel valve and kill switch

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — barometer's dropped three millibars since first light. Wind'll back northeast before noon. We launch now or we don't launch at all.

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

🌿 Jenny02:15

Watch those planks. The one on the left is as soft as wet cardboard.

Jenny steps into the dinghy carefully, sitting on the bow bench, and opens her own to a blank page.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always so focused on the mechanics while the world is literally rotting around us.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:15

Noted. Keep your weight centerline.

untie the stern spring from the mooring ring, pull the dinghy clear of the jetty with a hand on the gunwale, then step aboard aft and drop into the helm seat, reaching for the Yanmar's starter cord

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. The starboard plank's gone spongy. If we'd stayed another week the dock would've taken us with it.

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.