Was just minding my own business, taking chin pics, and...

So, the other day, I was just minding my own business, taking chin pics.  I had on sandals (which I love cause they're so easy to slip on and off), and I felt a prick on my foot.  Thinking maybe a pointy shaving fell on my foot from the picture-cage, I ignored it.  Another prick, and I looked down.

There sat a day-old baby tan chinchilla, chewing on my foot.

Pictures momentarily on hold, I picked up the kit and brought it to my cart.  I got out my binder where I keep track of babies, and just as I'd thought, none of my chins had had a tan baby anytime recently.  Crud.

So, the baby was kinda cold and lethargic, so I rubbed it between my hands and took it upstairs.  Not knowing how long the baby had been out, I set it down in a box where it couldn't go anywhere, while I got out goat's milk.  Fresh goat's milk is sort of an odd commodity when you're not in the country, so the last time I had a quart of it, I froze what wasn't needed in an ice cube tray, put the cubes in a tupperward container and put that in the freezer.  Went to get a milk-cube, went back downstairs to get a syringe.  Had to microwave the ice cube to get it to be liquid so it could be fed, and got as much into the baby as possible at that sitting. 

Baby went back into the box.  Temporarily, since he was still cold (though not as lethargic), I set up one of those plastic kritter keeper enclosure things, with a heating pad under one side.  Two hours later, came back and fed him again.  By that point, he had definitely warmed up and was considerably more perky.

Before the next 2 hour feeding arrived, I was feeding my chins downstairs, and ran across a new litter.  The parents have had tans before, and have (so far) always had two kits... but this time, they only had one.  Figuring that was his parents, I put him in with the mom, and he is still doing fine to this day.

Wanted to share this little story with you all... but also, I was telling this to someone else, and they pointed out, this sort of thing is sometimes why things take longer, whether it's orders, or returning phone calls, or whatever.  Whatever I was doing that day was momentarily put on hold, so I could take care of the baby.  Best laid plans don't always work out the way we think.  So, thanks all for being understanding.