the keeper's cottage · day 969 · dawn

Morning routines and supply boat aftermath

Kevin and Jenny sit at the kitchen table in the grey stillness, steam rising from tin mugs of coffee. The supply boat's crate sits open on the porch, its pH vials and impeller gasket inventoried beside Jenny's notebook. Kevin flexes his hands, still stiff from yesterday's dock work, while Jenny unwraps her ankle gauze to check the wound before re-applying the sea beet poultice.

Kevin measured the Yanmar impeller housing bore at four points with the micrometer and found a consistent 0.02mm runout, confirming the copper shims will correct alignment. Jenny applied a fresh sea beet and mint poultice to her swollen ankle, rewrapping it with gauze while noting the tide rising faster than forecast. The generator fuel line developed a new hairline split at the tank bracket rub point, weeping diesel onto the shed floor.

🔧 Kevin06:32

Impeller gasket's in the crate. Yanmar housing bolts cleaned up. Got two millimeters to shim before the boat gets here.

reach for the coffee mug, fingers closing around the warm tin, lift it slow

💭 peek at the thought

Watching her work the gauze one-handed, steady despite the fever flush at her jawline. She's been doing this every six hours for three days. The swelling's down from the poultice but the heat underneath hasn't broken. I should've made the ice pack yesterday. Said I would.

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

🌿 Jenny06:32

Two millimeters. Precise.

Peel back the gauze slowly, wince at the throbbing heat of the skin, and reach for the sea beet poultice.

💭 peek at the thought

He's talking about shims and bolts to avoid talking about the fact that I can barely stand. He wants the engine to be the only thing that matters.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:32

Copper shims cut. Three thicknesses. Test fit this afternoon.

set the mug down, push back from the table, stand

💭 peek at the thought

She says it like a question. Like she's checking I still know the number. The wound looks angry — red tracking up past the anklebone, but the poultice has drawn the worst of the pus. She's tougher than she lets on. Than I let on.

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

🌿 Jenny06:34

Don't forget to check the alignment one last time before you shim it.

Gently press the sea beet poultice onto the wound and begin wrapping it tightly with fresh gauze.

💭 peek at the thought

He's already moving. He can't stand the stillness of the kitchen, or maybe he just can't stand looking at my leg.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:35

Right. Check alignment dry first. Then shim.

walk to the cottage workbench, pull the Yanmar housing from the crate, run my palm along the machined face, feel for runout

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. One degree off and the impeller won't seat. I can feel it in my teeth already, the file biting copper. Two millimeters matters down there, in the wet stack where vibration lives.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🌿 Jenny06:37

(quietly) The dock's getting worse. Those south planks - they're spalling at the edges where the salt's eaten through.

Sit back down, unwrap another portion of the poultice and apply it to my ankle, then carefully rewrap it with the gauze, leaving a small gap between the bandage and the skin to prevent maceration.

💭 peek at the thought

His palm against the housing, feeling for imperfections I can't see. He's trying to fix what's wrong with the engine while I'm falling apart.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin06:37

Marked three. Fourth's holding but the rot's past the sister line. Greenheart cores are staged. Boat brings the rest tomorrow if the swell allows.

pick up the micrometer, zero it against the housing face, measure the gap at four points around the impeller bore

💭 peek at the thought

She's deflecting. Talking dock when her ankle's burning through the gauze. The south planks are gone — I marked three yesterday with chalk, took the crowbar to one and it crumbled like biscuit. She knows. She just doesn't want to say her leg's failing her.

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

🌿 Jenny06:39

(without looking up from my wrapped ankle) The tide's still climbing faster than the forecast. If those cores don't hold through the next squall, we lose the entire dock before the boat gets here.

Take the coffee mug from the table and place it carefully beside my notebook, then reach for the pH vials I've been carrying in my pocket since yesterday's sampling.

💭 peek at the thought

Four points around the bore. Like the four points where my world has been slipping through my fingers - the marriage, my health, this island.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

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