In response to @knowledge-seeker's homesteading photography contest, I wanted to submit a picture of our hen named Kevin. (Yes - a girl named Kevin). Kevin had to have a toe amputated when a rat bit it almost clean off. Kevin also likes to be pushed around the yard in a stroller. She definitely makes for an interesting story, but I didn't have a good picture of her that captured all of her Kevin-ness.
So I'm submitting this one instead:
This is Lucy, with her (not-so-baby-anymore) Baby Jack. Lucy has plenty of issues. Her jaw is deformed and her teeth almost non-existent which means a good 5-7 inches of her tongue is perpetually hanging out of the side of her mouth. She dribbles everything, everywhere, when she eats or drinks, and is constantly getting leaves or grass stuck to her dry tongue.
One of her previous owners (my husband's ex) was abusive. She would yell and throw things at her, and constantly close the door on her when she was half-way through going in or outside. (It took us 3 years, but she'll finally go through doors a little less like a lunatic).
Her right leg (pictured) is covered in scars. The first 4th of July my husband had her, the neighborhood kids starting lighting off fireworks early and she jumped an 8 ft privacy fence and was lost for three weeks. When they finally found her, she was covered in fleas, infection and spider-bites. Luckily, a little bit of scarring is all that is left from that horrible adventure.
She has a heart murmur.
But she also has her baby. Jack doesn't go far without his shadow following protectively behind him. They explore together, they wrestle together, they chase the chickens together. (The chickens put up with this, though, because the baby and dog also drop food for them). Jack learned the words "gentle" and "good dog" and "we don't bite the doggies" before nearly everything else.
That's why Lucy is my submission for Homestead Photography Content - Animal Edition. Because every homestead, like every boy, is better with a dog.
“When the Man waked up he said, ‘What is Wild Dog doing here?’ And the Woman said, ‘His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always.'”
—Rudyard Kipling