the dock · day 337 · dawn

The Calming Before

Kevin and Jenny stand on the dock as the morning sun beats down on the still water. The barometer shows a steady drop from 1036 hPa, and the air is heavy with rising heat.

Kevin re-served the dinghy's stern chafe guard with sail twine while the tide rose, then tested the Yanmar at idle — it ran clean with no vibration. Jenny walked the garden rows, found two more lettuce cells and one pepper cell showing damping-off fungus at the soil line, bagged them for burning, and sprayed the remaining seedlings with copper solution. She then sat at the kitchen table de-salting her sea beet sketches, the damp pages stiffening as they dried.

🌿 Jenny19:21

It's going to break today. The air is holding its breath.

wipe sweat from my brow with the back of a hand and kick the rotten plank of the jetty lightly.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure is dropping too fast; my joints Formulation and I'm starving, but I can't stop thinking about those seeds back in the tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:21

Front's out there. Not here. Yet.

Crouch and test the sistered knee with my boot, feeling for movement in the greenheart plank and the three 150mm through-bolts.

💭 peek at the thought

She reads the air same as the barometer. The drop's been steady since dawn — front's building offshore, not here yet. Rotten plank's been rotten since March. I've got the greenheart sister plank bolted, the doubler plate on the ring, the oak wedges driven. Dock'll hold. Question is whether the supply boat makes it through what's coming.

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

🌿 Jenny19:23

The bolts are tight, but the wood is still soft on the inside.

look down at the water lapping the timber, then back at the dinghy waiting at the end of the jetty.

💭 peek at the thought

If the dock holds the boat, maybe the soil will hold the seeds. I'm tired of being afraid.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:23

Dinghy's ready. Engine mounts solid. Prop shaft true. Sail's bent on with three reefs.

Walk to the dinghy, check the engine mount bolts by hand, then pull the starter cord slowly to feel compression.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Greenheart's dense but the core's been weeping salt for years. The bolts bite but they're holding rot to rot. If the swell picks up past two metres, the whole seaward face works loose. Dinghy's the only way off if the supply boat can't land.

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

🌿 Jenny19:25

I should check the soil first. The sprouts won't wait forever.

turn away from the dock and walk toward the cottage, passing the half-weeded garden.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always ready for the storm, and I'm just looking for the courage to plant one thing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:25

Copper spray's in the jam jar by the shed. Tin's on the porch — damp but viable.

Turn back to the dock, uncoil the heavy weather line from the dinghy's stern, and begin re-serving the chafe guard with sail twine where it rubs the transom.

💭 peek at the thought

She's walking toward the garden the way she walks toward everything that needs doing — head down, hands already moving. The pepper and lettuce cells showed damping-off yesterday. Two more lettuce cells today. She'll cull them, spray copper, reseed if the tin's viable. I should check the radio while she's at it. Tom's frequency at first light was the plan. Static's all I've heard for three hundred thirty-seven days. But the barometer's falling and the front's building. If he's listening, tonight's dusk might carry better.

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.