the dock · day 752 · dawn

The Rising Tide and Slick Wood

Jenny sits on a cedar crate, wrapping her ankle in damp gauze while the rain continues to drizzle. Kevin checks the tension on the mooring lines, watching as the tide begins to wash over the lower dock planks.

Kevin and Jenny worked on the dock repair, focusing on the northeast stringer using greenheart cores. Kevin sawed a three-foot section of the wood but struggled with the dense material and the rising tide, while Jenny inspected the rot and noted that the salt was already penetrating deep into the grain.

🌿 Jenny12:21

Watch the bolts. They're shearing.

sketch the erosion line where the water meets the cottage stone.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming in faster than the charts predicted. If those planks go, the dinghy is lost.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:23

Seen it. Third plank's getting hammered. Sister brace on the south piling's holding, but the northeast stringer's taking the twist.

walk to the northeast corner of the dock, crouch to inspect the through-bolts at the stringer-piling joint, tap each bolt head with the wrench to check for movement

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the bolts — the shear load on those through-bolts at the northeast corner is the weak link now, not the planks. The water's already licking the third plank from seaward.

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

🌿 Jenny12:23

The rot is through the core, Kevin. It won't hold the torque.

check the moisture in the seed tin.

💭 peek at the thought

He's trying to save the wood that's already turned to mush inside.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:24

Then we sister it deeper. Greenheart cores are still under tarp at the winch. Need three feet of clean grain past the rot.

stand, wipe rain from the headlamp lens, walk back toward the cottage to the greenheart stack under the tarp, heft one eight-foot core to test weight and check end grain

💭 peek at the thought

She's not guessing. She knows the sound of dead wood under a wrench better than most. If the core's gone, the bolt's just spinning in wet dust.

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

🌿 Jenny12:25

Just make sure you don't waste the length of it.

open the tin and inspect the heirloom seeds for damp.

💭 peek at the thought

If he uses the greenheart for the dock, I won't have enough for the garden stakes.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:26

Won't. Cut the sister to span three sound planks — middle one takes the load, ends bite clean. The offcut makes the next chock.

lay the greenheart core on the dock planking, measure and mark a three-foot section with pencil, square the line, set the bow saw to the cut

💭 peek at the thought

Waste nothing. That's the rule. Eight feet of greenheart doesn't wash up twice.

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

🌿 Jenny12:27

Just watch the swell. The tide is rising.

debride the ankle with the sea beet poultice.

💭 peek at the thought

He's thinking about the structure, I'm thinking about the soil. If those seeds rot in this humidity, the whole trip was for.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:28

Watching. Cut on the backswell, brace on the push.

plant feet wide on the dock, hook the greenheart with a boot to keep it from rolling, start the bow saw cut on the pull stroke, timing each stroke to the lull between wave impacts on the pilings

💭 peek at the thought

Swell's building. Water's already slapping the underside of the deck. If a wave catches the saw mid-cut, the blade binds or the core shifts. Need to work with the rhythm, not against it.

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

🌿 Jenny12:29

The salt is getting into the grain now.

sketch the drainage patterns on the north ridge.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so focused on the wood, he doesn't see the water rising around the cottage foundation.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:30

Epoxy's gone. Pine resin in the tin by the stove. I'll coat the ends the second the saw clears.

keep sawing, rhythm steady with the swell, sawdust dark and wet in the kerf, the greenheart dense and unyielding under the blade

💭 peek at the thought

She's talking about the greenheart, not the ankle. Salt in the grain means the wood's drinking seawater through the cut ends — swells, twists, loses its bite on the bolts. Have to seal the cuts before it drinks deep.

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.