A new puppy recently moved in next door. Izzie is a goldendoodle (Golden Retriever/Poodle mix), whose bright blue, intelligent eyes and tousled, pale coat distract you from the fact that she's shredding your shoelaces while you're chatting with Tom and Melissa, her owners.

Having a puppy nearby really brings home how old Hana is (12 in September). I can't remember the last time I saw her run; she doesn't even chase the backyard squirrels, preferring to just watch them run up and down the fence. Getting to a standing position in the morning is a struggle that 500 mg of glucosamine a day doesn't make any easier. Other than her twice daily walks, which we take at her slow pace, she now spends most of her life sleeping.

Although some days (including a couple of scary ones last week) it seems as though walking around the block is too much for her, Hana loves to go hiking in the mountains, as we did Saturday near Golden. She insists on being at the head of our little group. When we stop for a water break, she quickly slurps the water in her little metal bowl and then stands impatiently waiting for us to finish drinking. Hana hates to be picked up, but when the trail became more of a boulder field than a path, she accepted tush boosts from me and let Jim lift her from a boulder that was too steep for her to scramble down.


After the hike, she joined us for a beer on the patio of the Golden City Brewery, snoozing in the shade before the bar's 4 p.m. dog curfew. We're trying to treasure such moments with this lovely animal, because we know that there may not be many more.


And on an unrelated, Wolverine-centric note:

As we were approaching Golden, we spotted a huge, block "M" on a hillside near town.


"Wow, look at that, another UM fan lives out here," we said to each other, adding, "Go Blue!" It took us a few hours to realize that the "M" was for the Colorado School of Mines, which is located in Golden. Thank God Kevin and Anne, who are Mines alumni, were far away in Brussels and couldn't knock our Maize and Blue heads together . . .

BTW, the yellow (Maize?) and white specks in the picture are parasailors.