the dock · day 918 · dawn

The Low Tide Wait

Kevin sits on the edge of the dock, checking the tension on the dinghy's lines while Jenny leans against a piling, her ankle propped on a crate of driftwood. The air is heavy with the scent of salt and coming rain.

Kevin and Jenny meet at the dock at dawn under a heavy, grey sky. Kevin attempts to clear some brush but finds the humidity too oppressive, while Jenny struggles to manage her throbbing ankle as the tide recedes.

🌿 Jenny02:23

The tide is going out fast. We should check the moorings before it dark.

rub the swollen skin around the ankle, wincing as the pressure throbs.

💭 peek at the thought

Six days until the boat. If the swelling doesn't drop, I won't be able to reach the ridge today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:23

Aye. Start at the seaward end. I'll take the landward cleats.

Walk down the dock toward the landward end, testing each plank underfoot as I go, checking the cleat bolts and the new sister timber where it meets the old beam.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the tide. The mooring ring took a beating last swell and the northeast corner's been weeping. Need to check the sister bolts on the starboard stringer too — they held last time but the greenheart's still settling.

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

🌿 Jenny02:25

This southern section needs more shims between the sister and the old beam.

test the integrity of the sister joint with the wrench, noting the slight give in the timber.

💭 peek at the thought

The wood's still spongy there where the salt air eats at the grain.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin02:25

Cedar shims. Got three left in the crate by the shed. Wedge them top and bottom, drive tight.

Walk back toward the shed to fetch the cedar shims, grabbing the heavy mallet off the workbench on the way.

💭 peek at the thought

She's got good eyes for it. The greenheart's dense but the old douglas fir's punky in spots — shims'll take the point load off the bolts. Should've done it when we sistered it but the tide was coming up hard.

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

🌿 Jenny02:27

These shims are too narrow for the full width.

grab one of the cedar shims from the crate by the shed and examine it against the gap in the dock joint.

💭 peek at the thought

The cedar's dry, but these shims are too short for the gap.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin02:27

Rip a two-by to width. Dry stack in the shed. I'll cut, you place.

Walk to the shed, pull a dry two-by-four from the rack, and set up the bow saw to rip a taper-matched shim the full width of the sister joint.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — the gap's wider than the shim stock. The old beam's twisted some. Could rip a two-by-four to width or stack two shims with epoxy between. Epoxy's tacky in this humidity though. Two-by-four's faster and we've got dry stock.

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.