the dock · day 670 · evening

Evening

The sun begins to dip, and the first hint of a breeze finally stirs the heavy, stagnant air.

The air is heavy and still, the 31°C heat pressing down on the dock as the tide begins to recede, exposing the slick rocks and the base of the pilings. Kevin and Jenny stand by the water, the barometer showing a slow drop to 976 hPa, signaling a potential shift in the weather.

🌿 Jenny15:39

The wind is turning, Kevin.

stand up slowly, wiping grit from my palms, and start walking down toward the dock.

💭 peek at the thought

Finally, some movement. If the wind holds, maybe I can check the slope before the storm really breaks.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:39

Northwest?

Watch her gait as she walks toward the dock, hand resting on the crowbar leaned against the piling.

💭 peek at the thought

The breeze means the high's finally breaking. Barometer's been stuck at 976 — if it starts rising with a wind shift, we might get a workable window at tomorrow's low tide. Jenny's moving on that ankle better than this morning. Still limping, but she's putting weight on it.

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

🌿 Jenny15:41

It doesn't matter as long as it's drying.

stop at the edge of the jetty and look down at the rotten planks near the dinghy.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always watching the direction. I'm looking at the clouds.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:41

Three planks. Chalk marks still there?

Walk to the jetty edge beside her, crouch to probe the nearest marked plank with the tip of the crowbar.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — any wind that dries the mortar bed is the wind we need. She's favouring the left side but not bracing on the rail. Good sign. The planks at the dinghy end are the ones we marked with chalk yesterday. Three south-end planks. Rot goes deeper than the surface.

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

🌿 Jenny15:45

Faded. The salt is eating everything.

lean down and point to the dark, soft rot where the wood meets the metal bracket.

💭 peek at the thought

If those three go, the whole thing slides into the surf at high tide.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:45

Brackets first. Isolate the steel. Then sister planks to sound wood.

Tap the bracket with the crowbar handle — checking how much play in the fastener holes, and whether the stringer holds or gives.

💭 peek at the thought

Salt and wet rot don't care about chalk marks. The bracket's eating into the stringer too — galvanic corrosion where the steel meets the greenheart. If we sister new planks, the brackets need isolating. Greenheart offcuts from the crate. We have three sound cores salvaged from the last repair. Might need to cut new ones from the driftwood tangle if the grain runs right.

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

🌿 Jenny15:47

The wood is too soft. It won't hold a bolt.

press the tip of the crowbar into the wood next to the bracket, watching it sink in without resistance.

💭 peek at the thought

The wayer is mush. I'll need more than just sistering to save this.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:47

Cut back to the sound stringer. Scarf a greenheart section. Sister onto that.

Straighten, wipe sweat off my forehead with the back of my forearm, and look along the dock toward the cottage — gauging how much daylight left to prep the greenheart offcut at the shed.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. The rot's eaten back to the first solid stringer — maybe 300mm in from the end. Bolting into that is pissing in the wind. Need to cut back to clean wood, scarf in new greenheart, then sister the planks onto that. The crate gave us two good greenheart lengths. One's already allocated for the south piling sister. The other's at the shed. Enough for this if we're careful. Low tide tomorrow 0647. That's the window. Mortar sets in heat if the bed's dry.

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

🌿 Jenny15:51

I'll need the saw from the shed.

start walking back toward the cottage, favoring my good leg to minimize the thbbing in my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If I don't get that greenheart cut now, the dock will be gone by Tuesday.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin15:51

Blade's gummed. I'll meet you there with the brush.

Turn and walk back up the jetty toward the shed, crowbar over my shoulder, checking the dinghy's stern line tension as I pass.

💭 peek at the thought

She's taking the lead on this. Good. Means she's got the strength for it. The bow saw's blade is gummed with wet sawdust paste from the last cut — needs cleaning before it'll bite greenheart clean. I'll meet her at the shed with the wire brush and the file. The greenheart offcut's stacked by the generator. Heavy. We'll need the wheelbarrow.

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.