the dock · day 923 · afternoon

Preparing for the Tide

The tide is starting to rise, giving them a few hours of dry light to finalize the area for the supply boat's arrival.

Kevin reinforced the second cleat with a greenheart sister plank and 150mm stainless through-bolt torqued to 26Nm, then rigged bow and stern spring lines with fenders deployed. Jenny attempted soil pH testing and sea beet transplanting but was hindered by rising tide and ankle pain, managing only a partial shrine sketch before weather worsened.

🔧 Kevin07:44

Stringer bolts are tight. Cleat sistering held last surge. Going to walk the seaward piling one more time before they round the point.

walk to the seaward end of the dock, testing each plank underfoot, checking the north piling shims and the oak wedges in the mooring ring mortise

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's turning. Two hours before the boat shows. Need to finish checking the starboard stringer bolts and make sure the cleat sistering holds under crane load. Jenny's on the manifest — let her handle the paperwork. My job's the dock.

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

🌿 Jenny07:45

Watch the rot on the second cleat, it still feels soft.

Jenny leans back against the cottage wall, wincing as her ankle shifts, and opens her notebook to sketch the morphology of a sea beet leaf she found earlier.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show tomorrow, the soil is going to be the least thing I worry about before I lose my mind.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:49

Marked it. Will sister before they hook the first pallet.

crouch at the second cleat, probe the rot line with the screwdriver, then pull the greenheart offcut and 150mm through-bolt from the staging pile

💭 peek at the thought

She felt it too. Second cleat, landward side. Rot goes deeper than the chalk mark. Have to sister it before the crane swings anything heavy.

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

🌿 Jenny07:49

Just don't over-torque it, the salt has already made the fibers like glass.

Jenny stops her pencil mid-stroke, staring at the thickening clouds on the horizon, and rubs the damp skin over her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's too fast with the tools; the humidity will eat the grain before the epoxy even sets.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:50

Won't. Quarter turn back from torque spec. Feel for the wood.

drill the pilot hole through the greenheart sister into sound timber behind the rot, drive the 150mm stainless through-bolt with washers and nyloc nut, torque to 26Nm instead of 35, test the cleat with body weight

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Salt-crystallized timber takes torque differently. Back the wrench off a quarter turn from spec. Feel for the bite.

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

🌿 Jenny07:51

way. The tide is turning too fast for us to be mistakes when the boat hits.

Jenny closes her notebook with a soft thud, stands up slowly with a grimace, and walks toward the end of the jetty to check the artworkhy lines.

💭 peek at the thought

At least he's listening to the wood for once, even if he isn't listening to me.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:52

Spring lines next. Then the crane hook.

walk to the bow cleat, double the heavy weather line around the north piling base, serve the chafe point with sail twine, check the stern spring tension

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Tide's pushing harder than yesterday. Spring lines need another wrap. She's favoring the left leg bad — ankle's not improving.

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

🌿 Jenny07:53

Keep them tight. The current will pull harder than it looks.

Jenny reaches the end of the dinghy, watching the water lap against the wood, and feels the weight of the hunger in her stomach.

💭 peek at the thought

He's moving like the boat is already here, but the sky is turning wrong.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:54

Bow line led fair. Stern spring doubled. Crane swing clear?

check the crane swing arc from the dock edge, verify no shrouds or mast bracket in the radius, pull the manifest from the oilskin pouch at the winch

💭 peek at the thought

Current's already setting west. Boat'll come in sideways if we don't lead the bow line right. She's hungry — we both are. First thing off that boat: diesel, impeller, then food.

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

🌿 Jenny07:55

Clear. But watch the swell, it's picking up.

Jenny leans over the side of the artworkhy, checking the rotten planks of the jetty, and watches the horizon for any sign of the hull.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't come, I'm going to lose the seed tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:56

Fenders. Bow and stern. Warp slack two feet.

deploy the rubber fenders on the seaward gunwales, pay out two feet of slack on the bow and stern warps, scan the horizon for the supply boat's hull

💭 peek at the thought

Swell's building. Short period. Boat'll pitch at the dock. Fenders out. Warp slack for surge. She's scanning the horizon — same as me. Neither of us saying the part about what happens if the impeller isn't aboard.

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

🌿 Jenny07:57

Got it. We need to be ready if the wind keeps pushing.

Jenny grips the rough timber of the dinghy, her fingers tracing the grain, and watches the flat sky turn a bruised purple.

💭 peek at the thought

The air is so heavy I can barely breathe it.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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