the keeper's cottage · day 861 · afternoon

Afternoon regrouping

The tide begins to turn, and the sky darkens further as Kevin and Jenny return to the cottage to prepare the collected limpets.

Kevin lit the stove, boiled limpets, and made coffee while Jenny debrided her infected ankle and applied a fresh sea beet poultice. Both ate the limpets and drank coffee, though the ankle remains hot and swollen.

🔧 Kevin12:48

Stove's cold. I'll get the kindling.

walk to the woodshed, gather dry screw pine branches and spruce kindling, return to cottage, light fire in wood stove, set pot of water to boil

💭 peek at the thought

The limpets will need boiling, and the stove's cold. Need to get the fire going before the tide pushes back in — damp wood won't catch easy in this humidity.

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

🌿 Jenny12:49

Hurry. The water is coming.

Sit on the kitchen stool, unwrap the ankle bandage, and watch the fire catch.

💭 peek at the thought

The wood is rotting from the inside out, just like this leg. He thinks a fire will fix everything.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:50

Water's on. Be ready in ten.

drop limpets into boiling pot, watch them curl, pull first batch with slotted spoon, set tin mugs on table

💭 peek at the thought

Fire's catching. Good. Humidity's making everything fight back but the screw pine's dry enough.

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

🌿 Jenny12:51

Good. I'll debride and change the poultice while they cook.

Strip off the old sea beet-and-mint wrapping, inspect the redness spreading, and prepare fresh poultice ingredients from the garden.

💭 peek at the thought

The infection is tracking faster than the antibiotics. I need to check if it's crossed the poultice margin.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin12:52

Eat first. Then the ankle.

spoon limpets into two tin mugs, pour broth over, set one in front of Jenny, crack shells on my own with the back of the spoon

💭 peek at the thought

She's steady with it. Doesn't flinch. The red line's not past the tendon sheath yet — poultice is holding.

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

🌿 Jenny12:53

Five minutes.

Take a small sip of the broth, swallow, and wince at the throb in my leg.

💭 peek at the thought

I'm too tired to argue, but the salt in the air is making my mouth water.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:54

Four. Eat.

suck meat from a limpet shell, watch her, wait

💭 peek at the thought

Five minutes. She's pushing it. The antibiotic course isn't finished and the heat in that ankle says the infection's still fighting.

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

🌿 Jenny12:55

I'm eating.

Pick up a limpet, way the rubbery meat, look at the steam rising from the mug.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so impatient with the clock when the body is the one failing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:57

Tea.

grab the coffee tin, fill kettle with water from the rain tank, set it on the stove next to the limpets, check the fire's still catching

💭 peek at the thought

She's making it work. The steam tells me the fire's hot enough now, and I can smell the copper from the Yanmar tools mixed with the sea beet poultice.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🌿 Jenny12:57

Thanks.

Lean back in the chair, rubbing the side of my ankle, watching the kettle whistle.

💭 peek at the thought

At least the broth is warm. My ankle feels like it's being squeezed by a hot iron.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:58

Not whistling yet.

pour boiling water over coffee grounds in two tin mugs, push one across the table toward her, sit on the opposite stool

💭 peek at the thought

The kettle's not whistling yet — water's just starting to move. She's tired enough to hear things that aren't there. The doxycycline's down to two doses. Metronidazole's got fourteen from the cache. That's the math.

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

🌿 Jenny12:59

Give it then.

Wrap both hands around the warm mug, feeling the heat through the ceramic, looking at the swollen skin of my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always watching the kettle like if the steam will stop the rot. My leg's still pulsing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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