the dock · day 712 · dawn

Supply Boat Preparation

Kevin and Jenny stand by the dinghy as the tide begins to lift the pilings. Jenny checks the tension on the repaired stern line while Kevin inspects the Yanmar engine for fuel leaks.

The sun rises over a calm, glassy sea, the air heavy with the humidity of the wet season. Kevin and Jenny stand by the dock, the low tide exposing the barnacled rocks beneath the southern pilings. Jenny's ankle is throbbing despite the sea beet poultice, and the urgency of the approaching supply boat looms over their chores.

🌿 Jenny02:57

Watch the cleat, Kevin. The wood is screaming against the salt.

Pull the stern line taut to check for fraying at the knot.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming in faster than the charts predicted. If that line slips, the dinghy goes under the jetty.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:57

Cleat's greenheart, Jen. It'll outlast the piling it's bolted to. But I'll double the spring line anyway.

step to the bow and run a second stern spring from the dinghy's aft cleat to the north piling, taking the load off the dock cleat

💭 peek at the thought

Good catch on the cleat — the greenheart's holding but the old timber around it's tired. She's got eyes for the details that matter.

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

🌿 Jenny02:59

Just make sure the spring is tight. I don't want losing the boat again.

Trace the rot line on the way plank with the tip of my pencil.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always optimistic about the wood, but I see the rot deep in the grain.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin02:59

Spring's doubled. Half-inch three-strand, long splice, served at the eye. It's not going anywhere.

cinch the spring line tight with a rolling hitch on the standing part, then step back and check the dinghy's lie in the rising water

💭 peek at the thought

She's still carrying the weight of last winter's storm — the dinghy torn loose, the long swim to recover it. The pencil tracing rot lines is her way of naming what she fears.

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

🌿 Jenny03:01

It's enough for now. The tide is getting high.

Rub the pencil lead against my thumb and look toward the north slope.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks the wood is the problem, but the salt eats everything eventually. Including us.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:01

Tide's high enough to float the drums if we need to move them. Want the engine warm before we haul?

wipe hands on a rag, then climb into the dinghy to check the Yanmar's oil level one more time before we load the fuel drums

💭 peek at the thought

She's reading the slope the way I read a pressure gauge — looking for the needle to quiver before the blowout. The north slope's been moving since the big rain. She sees it. I see it. We both know what it means for the garden wall.

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.