the dock · day 926 · dawn

Humidity and Salt Corrosion

Kevin hunches over the Yanmar engine on the dinghy, scrubbing salt crust from the fuel injector pump threads. Jenny sits on a cedar plank, adjusting her wrapped ankle while watching the heavy, grey air settle over the water.

Kevin installed the bronze adapter and new fuel line on the Yanmar, then ran the engine at the dock — it started clean and held steady under load with no vibration. Jenny attempted to debride her ankle but the infection had deepened; the wound bled heavily when she probed it and the poultice would not adhere, forcing her to re-bandage without cleaning it properly.

🌿 Jenny10:17

The tide is coming in early today.

sketch the morphology of the sea beet leaves in the margin of her notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

The humidity is going to rot these seeds before I ever get them into soil that actually works.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:21

Tables said six-forty. Moon's pulling it early. Or the low out west.

wipe the injector pump threads clean with a rag and check the seating face for pitting

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer's been climbing since midnight. High pressure ridge holding — means calm seas for the trial but the supply boat'll fight a contrary current on the flood. Tide tables said 0640. It's barely 0530. Moon phase or the low out west pulling water early. Either way, the dinghy's floating sooner than planned.

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

🌿 Jenny10:21

Everything's shifting out here.

rub a thumb over the swollen skin of her ankle through the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always looking at the charts while I'm looking at the rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:22

The ankle shifting? Or the island?

pick up the bronze adapter and thread it into the pump housing by hand, feeling for cross-threading

💭 peek at the thought

She's not talking about the tide. The ankle's been angry three days now — red line tracked past her knee yesterday before the antibiotics and poultice turned it. She won't say how much it hurts. Just watches me work and writes her notes. Stubborn as a seized bolt.

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

🌿 Jenny10:23

way, I think.

look at the tin of seeds in my lap, heavy and cold.

💭 peek at the thought

Both. The island is trying to swallow me inch by inch.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:24

Tin's cold because the metal holds night. Seeds don't care.

torque the bronze adapter to spec with the 19mm wrench, then reach for the new fuel line

💭 peek at the thought

The tin marked E. Grandmother's seeds. She's been guarding it like a reactor core since the crate washed up. Won't let me open it, won't say what she thinks is inside. Just sets it on her lap when the radio crackles or the barometer drops. The weight of it — whatever's in there — sits heavier than the Yanmar's crankshaft.

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.