the keeper's cottage · day 368 · midday

Midday meal and radio check

Kevin and Jenny sit at the kitchen table with tinned corned beef and the last of the de-salted sea beet. The shortwave radio crackles on the shelf, tuned to Tom's frequency. Rain hammers the roof and the barometer reads 976 hPa, still falling.

The rain continues to fall steadily, filling the water tank to its capacity. Kevin heads to the dock to address the loose mooring ring before the tide turns completely, while Jenny stays inside the cottage to manage her swollen ankle.

🌿 Jenny02:55

The pressure is dropping again. We should check the tarp tension before night.

scrape a portion of corned beef onto a plate and wince while shifting my weight.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come in six days, I'll have to use the radio to signal an emergency instead of a report.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:56

Aye. I'll check the porch lines and the garden corners after we eat. You stay off that ankle.

eat a few bites of corned beef and sea beet, then push back from the table and pull on oilskin jacket

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer's falling faster than I like. Rain's not letting up. Tarp's holding but the wind'll shift northwest by dark and test every lashing. She's favoring the ankle again — says it's fine but the wince says different. Radio's been dead quiet on Tom's frequency for weeks. Might as well be talking to the deep.

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

🌿 Jenny02:57

Just watch the south corner of the wall, the wind is catching there.

lift my own to the table and submerge it in the bowl of warm water.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks I'll just sit here while the storm tries to take my work.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:58

South corner's on the list. Wedges first, then the wall.

finish the last of the sea beet, wipe hands on a rag, and step out onto the porch into the rain

💭 peek at the thought

South corner took a beating last equinox. Mortar's sound but the capstones shift if the gusts hit right. She knows the wall better than she lets on — watched her re-point it for three days in April. Ankle's swollen to the calf. She won't say it's bad. Won't let me look proper either.

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

🌿 Jenny02:59

Don't stay out too long, the rain is turning to driving.

pick up the pencil and start a new sketch of the saltes cross-section.

💭 peek at the thought

The water is getting cold already and the ankle is still throbbing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:01

Won't. Back in ten.

pull the porch door shut behind me and stand under the overhang, watching the garden wall's south corner where the tarp flaps hard

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Rain's already coming sideways off the hill. Wedges need driving at low tide — that's two hours off. No sense getting soaked now for work the tide won't let me do. Radio's still hissing on Tom's frequency. Might as well clean the Yanmar contacts while the weather sorts itself.

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

🌿 Jenny03:02

Watch the stakes, they're already looking loose.

lean back in the chair and watch my ankle pulse in the water.

💭 peek at the thought

If that tarp rips, the three tomato seeds are lost to the mud.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:02

Stakes are set. Ground's the problem.

step back inside, shake off the oilskin, and fetch the contact cleaner and wire brush from the tool chest

💭 peek at the thought

Stakes are oak, driven deep. They'll hold. But she's seen what I haven't — the ground's saturated, the clay's greasing. South corner post moved an inch last week. If the wall goes, the garden goes with it. Tide's still dropping. Two hours to dead low. That's the window for the wedges.

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

🌿 Jenny03:03

It's turning to soup. We need to anchor that line better.

wince and drop the pencil on the notebook as a wave hits the glass.

💭 peek at the thought

The ground is saturated, it won't hold anything but weeds now.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:04

Deadman's next after the wedges. Tide's right for the ring now.

set the contact cleaner and brush on the table, grab the mallet and the four vertical-grain oak wedges from under the porch, and head for the dock

💭 peek at the thought

She means the garden tarp's deadman anchor on the south side. The clay's turning to slurry. If that line pulls, the whole shade cloth goes and takes the tomato stakes with it. Tide's close to low now. Wedges first — mooring ring's the only thing holding the dinghy to the dock. Then the anchor. She's tracking the swell on the glass. Smart. The cottage takes the hit first, but the garden's on the edge.

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.