the dock · day 263 · night

Arrival of the Supply Boat

The rain has tapered to a drizzle as the supply boat appears on the horizon, cutting through the swells.

The supply boat is a low silhouette on the horizon, cutting through the grey morning haze. The tide is rising, pushing water against the pilings of the dock. Kevin and Jenny are at the jetty, the air smelling of salt and damp wood as they prepare for the boat's arrival.

🔧 Kevin20:32

Boat's in sight. Mooring ring's still loose. You want the radio or the dock?

walk up the jetty to the mooring ring, pull the heavy wrench from my belt, and start cranking the nyloc nuts on the through-bolts

💭 peek at the thought

Supply boat's early. Or I lost a day. Barometer's been rising — 983 and climbing. Good sign. Means the front's past us. Boat'll make the dock if the mooring ring holds. If it doesn't, we're manhandling stores up the beach at low tide. Again.

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

🌿 Jenny20:33

The dock. I need to be ready for the crates before the tide turns.

wipe grit off my hands, the notebook under my arm, and walk toward the water tank to check the sediment level one last time.

💭 peek at the thought

If those bolts don't hold, the whole dinghy drifts into the surf before he even lands.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:34

Ring first. Then a hand with the crates.

torque the last nyloc on the mooring ring, rap the steel doubler plate with the wrench to seat it, then grab the crowbar and lever the first supply crate toward the cottage track

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Tide's rising — gives us maybe two hours before the ramp's too steep for the heavy crates. Ring shifts under load; the doubler plate and through-bolts I put in last week should hold if the mortise isn't rotted deeper than I thought. Three sound planks left in the seaward stretch. If the ring pulls, we lose the dinghy and the offload gets ugly.

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

🌿 Jenny20:34

I'll get the way cleared. Don't drop the seeds on the salt flats.

tuck the notebook into my waistband and head to the dock to inspect the rotten planks for the new arrival.

💭 peek at the thought

way's moving faster than my legs feel today. That boat is sitting low, though.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:36

Seeds go straight to the porch. Covered. You check the planks, I'll meet the bow line.

shoulder the heaviest crate — tinned provisions by the weight of it — and walk it up the jetty to the cottage porch, boots finding the sound planks

💭 peek at the thought

She's thinking ahead — seed potatoes and heirloom tins can't take salt spray. The flats flood at high spring tide. Boat's cutting a clean wake; skipper knows the channel. Good. Means he'll come in bow-first, starboard side to. Gives us the lee of the jetty for offloading. My shoulder's still stiff from the transom scarf joint. Doesn't matter. Work's work.

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

🌿 Jenny20:36

Watch the gap on the left side, it's soft under weight.

kneel at the edge of the jetty, running a hand over the wood to feel for where the rot starts before the boat offloads.

💭 peek at the thought

He's moving fast for himself. I hope the swell didn't take the salt-beet samples.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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