3 January 2026

Barb was out all day. I worked out on the patio. Every time I came in the house, I would call Barb’s name, but I never got any answer. I came in to make a pot of coffee, and as I was pouring the water. I heard the kitchen door open. I thought Barb must be home. Then, when I walked to the door to greet her, I found that she had not closed it firmly when she left that morning, and it had remained wide open all day, blowing in the wind.

Barb had spent the day playing pickleball, doing aerobics at the sports pool and then shopping for bathing suits. On the way home, she was driving by her friend Cass’s house. She texted her and asked, "Where are you?" She said she was outside, and Barb should drop by. So, Barb dropped in, and Cass was on FaceTime with a friend, playing a dice game. Barb loves games. So, she joined in, but she didn’t know the rules. She was doing really well until she was Farkled. The game was called Farkle, and if you rolled your dice and didn’t get anything good, you would lose all the points from that roll, which is called being Farkled.

Barb had two new bathing suits and put on a fashion show for me. She asked me which one I liked. I told her the one I thought she would like best, which was the colourful one. The other one was black. She told me the problems with the colourful one and the good features of the black one. She asked which one she should buy, and I said both. She agreed. That was easy.

Every night before my walk, I ask Barb what the temperature is so I know what to wear. Tonight, Barb, the Doppler Chick, looked at the radar and noticed that there were huge rain clouds all around us. She said I had about an hour before it would rain. I went for my walk a little nervously and got home as it started sprinkling. Then I was going to work on my computer at home, but it started raining. I like to watch the rain. So, I set up my laptop on the patio. But I couldn’t see the rain very well in the dark. So, I went out and watched the rain from the lawn chair in the driveway. It really poured. I enjoyed myself, and Barb said I was fortunate to get home in time and not get drenched.

At bedtime, I was telling Barb that my jeans fit really well. She said that they were size 40, and I explained no, I hung the size 40, which are too big, up in the closet and took a crisp pair that were on a hanger there. She didn’t believe me, but then she checked the jeans hanging up, and they were size 40. She didn’t know which pair I was wearing because she thought that the only other pair she brought were in the laundry. She wanted to figure it out before she went to bed. So, she asked where I put my jeans, and I said on the chair. She went over and picked up the pants she found, and she didn’t understand what she was looking at. Then I realized she was looking at the shorts that I wore outside all day. She was getting impatient and wanted to figure it out. Then she finally found my jeans, and the tags were all removed. She went to bed convinced that they were mystery jeans.