the keeper's cottage · day 939 · evening

Evening meal and supply boat watch

Kevin and Jenny sit on the porch as light fails, sharing a tin of corned beef and the last of the limpet broth. The handheld VHF rests between them, volume turned up. The barometer reads 1014 hPa, steady. The tide is high and slack. Jenny's ankle is propped on a rolled blanket, the fresh poultice warming against her skin. Kevin checks the radio every few minutes. The supply boat is due at high tide tomorrow.

Kevin monitored the shortwave and VHF radios through the evening, hearing only a brief news fragment before static returned. Jenny tended her ankle with a fresh sea beet poultice, noting the infection boundary had receded slightly but the swelling remained significant.

🔧 Kevin08:39

Barometer's held. Wind's west. Channel should be clear.

spoon another mouthful of corned beef, chew slowly, glance at the VHF handset

💭 peek at the thought

She's eating slow. Good. The broth's got salt and fat she needs. Radio's quiet but the boat's due on the tide, not the schedule. I'll believe the engine when I hear it.

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

🌿 Jenny08:41

The poultice is working - it's drawing the heat down. But I need fresh strips tomorrow to check if the alkalinity's holding in the beds.

adjust ankle position, peel back corner of gauze to check for increased redness, then rewrap with fresh sea beet poultice applied directly to skin before covering

💭 peek at the thought

The infection line hasn't moved, thank god, but it's hot and angry against the poultice. I need to check if the sea beet is drawing out the toxins or just trapping them. Tomorrow I'll crawl to the north ridge with the pH strips - or I'll have to start drawing soil profiles instead of taking samples. The seeds are dry in the tin, that's something.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin08:41

Strips are in the kit. Two left. Save one for the garden.

reach for the tin mug, blow across the broth, drink

💭 peek at the thought

She's tracking it like a gauge. Good. The line hasn't moved past her mark from this morning. Two centimetres in four days — slow, but moving. Fourteen doses left if the boat comes tomorrow.

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

🌿 Jenny08:43

One for the garden, one for the ridge. I'll be careful.

note the count in the notebook, close the cover, and lean back against the stone wall, watching the tide catch the last light.

💭 peek at the thought

If I use a strip on the garden, I won't have enough for the ridge transect if the pH shifts. But the garden is half weeds anyway; grandmother's seeds need a chance.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:43

Ridge can wait. Ankle first.

set the empty mug down, pull the blanket higher over her legs

💭 peek at the thought

She's careful with everything. Counts strips, counts doses, counts days. I count the tide windows. Tomorrow's high at 0640. If the boat holds course, she'll round the point by 0700. If she doesn't — we've got stores. We've got the engine. We've got each other.

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

🌿 Jenny08:45

I know, but I need to check the poultice effectiveness. It's drawing the heat down my leg.

peel back the gauze carefully, inspect the wound edges, apply fresh sea beet and honey mixture, then rewrap with clean gauze, securing with medical tape.

💭 peek at the thought

The infection is still creeping, but it hasn't crossed the line I marked yesterday. If I lose this battle, I won't make it to the north ridge.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin08:45

Looks cleaner. Less angry.

hand her the water mug, wipe my hands on my trousers

💭 peek at the thought

The red line's still at her mark. Not advancing. Not retreating either. Heat's down from this morning — poultice is pulling. Honey's doing its work. Fourteen doses doxycycline, twelve metronidazole. If the boat comes tomorrow, we get resupplied. If not, we stretch.

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

🌿 Jenny08:47

It's holding better. I just hope the salt level stays down.

take a slow sip of water, watch the radio light flicker, and shift the weight off my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

It's a start, but the heat is still there. If the boat doesn't come tomorrow, the antibiotics will run out before the infection clears.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.