the dock · day 847 · midday

The Storm Approaches

The tide is still falling, but the first heavy drops of rain hit the dust. The wind picks up, testing the newly secured planks and the moored dinghy.

Kevin completed the fourth south dock plank replacement using greenheart and stainless through-bolts, then verified the shortwave radio on 2182 kHz with a clear contact to the supply boat captain confirming a 3-day ETA at high tide. Jenny debrided her ankle, applied a fresh sea beet and mint poultice, took her next antibiotic dose, and sketched sea beet salt gland morphology at the tide pools during low tide.

🌿 Jenny14:55

Watch the line, Kevin. The tide's shifting.

Lean against the porch railing and limp toward the cottage, keeping the ankle elevated.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure is dropping too fast; that storm is going to be a blow, not a squall.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:55

Got it. Heading down.

Walk down the dock to the dinghy, inspect the bow line chafe guard at the chock and the doubled stern spring at the mooring ring, take up any slack before the flood tide pushes her hard against the pilings.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — the tide's turning and the wind's backing west. The dinghy's bow line will take the load first. Need to check the chafe guard and the second spring before the swell builds.

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

🌿 Jenny14:57

Make sure the cleat is tight. The wind is picking up fast.

Sit at the kitchen table, open the seed tin, and watch the rain turn the world grey.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat drifts, I'm stuck here with just the weeds and the infection.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:57

Cleat's sound. Checking the knot now.

Pull the bow line tight at the cleat, re-seat the hitch, verify the greenheart sister plate isn't flexing under load, then step back and watch the dinghy ride the first real gusts.

💭 peek at the thought

Cleat's the landward one on the dock — sistered with greenheart last week. Bolts are fresh. But the line's only as good as the knot and the wood under it. Rain's coming down proper now. She's watching from the window. Good. Means she's staying put, ankle up.

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

🌿 Jenny14:59

Good. Now check the garden tarp corners before the wind catches them.

Grab the spare blanket from the hook and start toward the garden, favoring the infected ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer's already below 980, and the east wind turning north means the storm's on the flood.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin14:59

Jenny. Stop. Ankle. Porch. Now.

Drop the bow line, jog back up the dock toward the cottage, intercept her before she reaches the garden path.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not staying put. Ankle's hot, she's limping bad, and she's heading for the garden in a rising blow. The tarp corners were re-staked yesterday but the ground's sodden — stakes pull easy in wet clay. She'll never make it back before the squall hits proper.

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.