the dock · day 903 · dawn

Pre-Storm Tensions

Heavy rain lashes the dock planks as the wind picks up from the west. Kevin checks the tension on the dinghy mooring lines while Jenny sits on a crate, watching the tide swell against the pilings.

The rain intensifies from the west, turning the dock into a slick, treacherous surface as the storm approaches. Kevin probes the structural rot in the north piling while Jenny holds the headlamp to illuminate the failing beam. The tide is falling, exposing the extent of the damage to the mortise.

🔧 Kevin03:22

North piling's moving. Half a centimetre at the mortise. We sister it at low tide or we lose the dock.

check the dinghy warp tension at the mooring ring and walk back toward the cottage to stage the greenheart planks and 150mm through-bolt for first light

💭 peek at the thought

Wind's backing west harder than forecast. Swell's already hitting the pilings at mid-tide — if it holds through high water the north piling takes the full load unsistered. Should've done this yesterday.

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

🌿 Jenny03:22

I'll be there. Just let me get my boots on.

stand up slowly, leaning on the crate for support, and limp toward the cottage.

💭 peek at the thought

Half a centimetre. He's always so precise, even when we're both shivering. I can feel the dampness getting into my joints.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin03:24

Take the stool. I'll set the light on a stave — you sit dry on the plank.

watch her reach the porch, then turn back to the dock to pull the greenheart planks and staging timber from under the tarp

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring the left side bad. Ankle's not right for holding a light on wet rock at low tide. But she'll come anyway. I'll rig the headlamp on a stave so she can sit.

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

🌿 Jenny03:24

I'm fine, Kevin. I can hold the light.

walk to the porch and grab the LED headlamp.

💭 peek at the thought

I don't want to sit and watch. I'm not a spectator in my own life.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin03:26

Headlamp's on the shelf. Stave's by the generator shed. I'll have the sister plank staged by the time you're back.

drag the greenheart plank and the 150mm stainless through-bolt with washers and nyloc nut to the seaward end of the dock, staging them on the soundest plank near the north piling

💭 peek at the thought

Stubborn as the dock planks. She'll stand there in the dark with water up to her knees and call it fine. Let her. Argument wastes time we don't have.

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

🌿 Jenny03:26

I've got it.

pick up the headlamp from the shelf and walk back toward the dock, keeping my weight off the swollen side of my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's already treating me like a tripod. I can manage a headlamp and a steady hand.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin03:28

Battery's low. When it dies, you holler. I've got the spare in my pocket.

crouch at the north piling, probing the mortise rot with the screwdriver to confirm the sister depth while the water falls

💭 peek at the thought

Light's dimming. Battery's been fading for days. She'll lose it halfway through the job. Should've swapped it yesterday. Too late now — tide's dropping.

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

🌿 Jenny03:29

I'll holler.

reach the end of the dock and click the headlamp on, aiming the beam at the timber where the wood meets the water.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always worried about the gear failing. I just want to see the rot before the tide comes back.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:30

Rot's past the mark. Sister runs full length. You hold the light steady on the waterline — I'm going in the silt.

drive the spade into the silt at the piling base, clearing a trench along the mortise face while the tide drops lower

💭 peek at the thought

Rot goes deeper than the chalk line. Mortise is spongy past the bolt hole — sister needs to run full length to sound timber, not just the marked section. Means digging the silt out another thirty centimetres.

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

🌿 Jenny03:30

I've got you. Just don't slip.

brace myself against the piling and tilt the light down, focusing the beam sharply on the gap between the greenheart and the rot.

💭 peek at the thought

He's going to be waist-deep in grey slurry. I need to make sure the beam doesn't flicker just as he's seating the bolt.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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