the keeper's cottage · day 785 · afternoon

midday meal and radio watch

Kevin and Jenny sit on the cottage porch at midday with tin mugs of limpet broth and the shortwave radio charged beside them. The barometer reads 996 hPa steady. The tide is turning — water beginning to lap the lower rungs of the dock ladder. They eat quietly, listening for the supply boat's approach call on 2182, the ditch bag staged by the loft ladder with medevac forms, the letter to Tom, and seed tin E.

Kevin monitored the shortwave radio for the supply boat's approach call while Jenny completed her sea cave stratification sketch. The radio yielded only a news broadcast about Chinese military politics. Tide rose steadily against the dock as afternoon faded toward evening.

🌿 Jenny06:15

The tide is turning. We should check the radio once more before sunset.

Wipes a drop of broth from her lip and rubs the swelling on her ankle through the

💭 peek at the thought

Nine days until the boat. If it doesn't come, I'll run out of antibiotics before this infection finishes debriding the bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:15

Radio's charged. 2182 at sunset, 4125 backup if no joy. Three days out.

sip from tin mug, set it on porch rail, glance at barometer on kitchen shelf

💭 peek at the thought

The tide's coming in right on schedule. Radio check at sunset makes sense — gives the supply boat time to close the distance if they're running the high tide window in three days. My ankle's holding. Jenny's ankle... she moved okay this morning. Did the debridement herself. Didn't wake me.

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

🌿 Jenny06:17

I'll check the frequency after I finish this sketch.

Lean back against the whitewashed stone, wincing as the movement pulses in her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days. If the boat is late, I'm going to be hopping on one leg by next month.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:17

Take your time. Sketch first.

reach over and adjust the blanket over her good leg, brush the tin mug closer to her hand

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring it more than she lets on. The wince was real. Antibiotics are done — both courses. If the infection flares again, we're down to the buried cache and whatever the supply boat brings. She won't ask for help. I'll check the dressing tonight when she's asleep.

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

🌿 Jenny06:21

I'm just trying to catch the light before the clouds go over.

Pick up the pencil and start shading the stratified layers of the sea cave wall.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being too nice. It makes the silence feel heavier.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:21

Light's good. West wall catches it best this hour.

stand, stretch shoulders, walk to kitchen shelf and lift the shortwave radio, carry it to the porch table beside her mug, set it down gentle

💭 peek at the thought

She's recording the iron bands at forty centimetres and one point two metres. The laminated silt over blue clay. She does this — makes the island legible on paper so it survives us. The clouds are thickening west. Barometer steady but the air feels heavy. Three days.

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

🌿 Jenny06:23

Thank you. That was thoughtful, Kevin.

Adjust the ankle brace and trace a finger along the pencil line marking infection spread on her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The radio's warm from being in the kitchen. Good sign it'll hold charge.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin06:24

You're welcome.

sit back down on the porch step, pull knees up, watch the tide climb the dock ladder rungs — one, two, three

💭 peek at the thought

The pencil line hasn't moved since this morning. That's something. She marked the leading edge of the red at 0600 — hasn't crossed it. The brace is holding the swelling down. She's warm though. Can see the flush at her hairline. Not fever warm. Just... tired warm. Three days of antibiotics behind her. Body paying the debt.

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

🌿 Jenny06:25

It's coming quicker than yesterday.

Focus on the paper, sketching the way the silt cuts through the clay in the cave.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming in fast. If it hits the dock, I can't reach the alcove tomorrow anyway.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:27

Spring tide. New moon in two days. High water 0612 will peak another foot.

glance at the barometer through the kitchen window — 996 still, steady, but the needle's thick, not sharp

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Tide's pushing harder. Spring cycle building — new moon in two days. The supply boat's high tide window at 0612 will be the highest of the month. If the swell holds six-foot outside the reef like the captain said, the cut gets ugly. Dock's held through worse. North piling's the weak link. Shims are gone. Cribbing and chain bought us a week, maybe less if the surge hammers 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.