Apart — Kevin at the dock, Jenny at the north cliffs

Midday decisions at dock and cliffs

Kevin waits at the dock for the tide to turn before testing the Yanmar; Jenny walks the north cliffs to check the Carex transect cairns and gather purslane.

Kevin tested the Yanmar engine under load on the dinghy, finding it ran smoothly but with some vibration. Jenny attempted to feed and warm the seabird chick, managing to give it food but the chick remained cold.

🔧 Kevin — alone at the dock

You lean against the dock's landward post, watching the water climb the ladder. The dinghy rides high on doubled lines. Your notebook rests open to the Yanmar checklist: compression, oil pressure, temperature, prop engagement. The wind holds steady onshore. Barometer still rising. You'll give it until the tide kisses the third rung, then decide.

🔧 Kevin01:12

Kevin — check the barometer reading and note the time in the notebook

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's at the second rung now. Another twenty minutes, maybe thirty, before it hits the third. Engine's ready. I'm ready. Just need the water to drop enough that the spray doesn't drown the electrics when I crank it.

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

🔧 Kevin01:16

Kevin — climb into the dinghy, insert the key, and crank the Yanmar

💭 peek at the thought

Water's lapping the third rung. Barometer's holding at 1013. Wind hasn't shifted. This is the window — test now while the tide's high enough to load the prop but not so high the spray reaches the ignition.

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

🔧 Kevin01:20

Kevin — shift into forward gear at idle, feel the prop bite, and watch the dinghy strain against the doubled lines

💭 peek at the thought

Engine caught first turn. Running smooth at idle — no smoke, no knock, oil pressure up. Let it warm a minute, then put it in gear. This is what the sleeve was for. What the bolts were for. What the nights with the file and the micrometer were for.

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

🌿 Jenny — alone at the north cliffs

You follow the north ridge path, the trade wind pushing salt spray into your face. The three reference cairns stand intact — stones stacked by your own hand last season. Between them, the Carex sedges cluster in salt-scoured hollows, seed heads nodding. You kneel at the second cairn, tweezers ready, collecting purslane stems with their succulent leaves. The cliff edge drops sheer to white water.

🌿 Jenny01:10

Jenny — make sketch: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) - North Cliff Variant

💭 peek at the thought

The purslane is thriving in the runoff. It's an opportunist, just like that rat. I wonder if the peppers will have that same stubbornness.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🌿 Jenny01:14

Jenny — check watch, walk back toward the cottage

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is dropping again. I can feel the shift in my knees. If it rains before the boat comes, the new seedlings will be washed away.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🌿 Jenny01:18

Jenny — enter cottage, check seabird chick

💭 peek at the thought

The chick is getting hungry. I need to check the warmth before the wind picks up. My stomach is growling, too.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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