鈥淲ho does that?鈥� was the response when explaining what Andrea McEwen and Kiara Scammell cooked up for the residents at the Moose Mountain Lodge. 聽
Scammell had asked McEwen about taking their dogs to parade in front of the nursing home just to wave and say hi, but things got a bit crazy from there. On Halloween, the residents were witness to a parade of two cows, three dogs and a bunch of loving members of the community all dressed up simply to bring a bit of joy. 聽
Having only halter trained the cows last Wednesday and putting together some amazing costumes, Scammell and her crew not only paraded the entourage in front of the nursing home windows, saying hello and sharing the love, they realized the animals were behaving so well they decided to march on down to Carlyle鈥檚 Main Street.聽
鈥淚 have a heart and a passion for the elderly,鈥� McEwen explained. 聽
She empathized with great concern how the COVID measures would be affecting them and how the new distance is affecting everyone. 聽
鈥淲e just need to take time out of our lives to bring some smiles to each other,鈥� she detailed the last few months before her Oma died on Oct. 1, 鈥渂ecause there is a lot of pain and they just don鈥檛 understand.鈥� 聽
Cows dressed up like an airplane and a peacock, dogs dressed as a lion, skunk and hot dog鈥ou may count that as ridiculous, but this group had the time of their lives and are just scheming for when and how they can do it again. 聽
鈥淲e all need to be doing little things like this to bless others,鈥� McEwen said as I contemplated the great amount of thought and time that went into this one event. Working with animals is not always easy and definitely not predictable. 聽
The three dogs had never all been together before, never mind being paraded around town together. It was a huge success.聽
Andrea told of one of the staff who personally contacted her when she understood what was going on. Her dad was a farmer in that care home and she so hoped he was sitting at supper to see the show. She asked if they would do this again and McEwen gave a resounding 鈥測es, but we may try some of the other animals as well.鈥� Although Andrea has taken her support dog Relik into Moose Mountain Lodge many times and will go back to that personal contact when COVID measures are lifted, this was a great alternative, and she hopes the residents and staff enjoyed it.聽
