As many of you know, we are preparing for our Spring/Summer photo shoot! (Some of you might have seen the models yesterday while they were here for their fitting!) We will be doing it right here in Sacramento and will be shooting Thursday and Friday! Can't wait to show everyone the imagery we come up with, and I want to thank the rest of the C-Team for all their hard work! The time is almost here!

Full-Grain Leather

Starting with the “top dog”, full-grain leather comes from the very top layer of the hide where all the tightly-packed grain is. This is where you will find unique imperfections, scrapes, and scars in the leather. As time goes on, it will develop a beautiful patina and change with you as you both age. Thick and sturdy, this SlideBelt would be great for that everyday belt.

Top-Grain Leather

This premium leather is made from the split layer with all the imperfections removed. This second-tier leather is very malleable and easy to work with, making it great for SlideBelts wallets and belts. This leather has a smooth finish and is more stain resistant than full-grain leather. Being the most common of leathers, any top-grain ratchet belt from SlideBelts will be easy to match.

Genuine Leather

Genuine leather is understood to be the third tier of leather grade. It is the last level of product made with real leather, but usually has an artificial coating. These are generally a lower price and don’t last as long as the two premium leathers mentioned before. If you are skeptical about a ratchet-style belt, a genuine leather SlideBelt is the best place to start.

Last Sunday was a pretty long day! I had spent the morning rushing to make the dog kennel, that i'd been building, usable. It all came together just in time and I was relieved to mark another move-in task off my workload. 

Fast forward to my grandfathers house. Some of my extended family came down to spend time with us. I was chatting with my great aunt in the living room when I heard a load of screaming. It was my children ... and they were freaking out because they were given fuzzy baby chickens. Without me knowing ANYTHING about this, my family IN THEIR INFINITE WISDOM decided to gift my children with those two baby Houdan chicks. By the time I reached them .... it was already too late. My children and my partner were hooked by the little devils. 

1: Buying baby animals as holiday gifts is in my top 50 things that shouldn't be done. 

2: This meant I was going to have to build another freaking animal cage. 

While the chicks were resting in a spare bedroom, I noticed that one of them was acting a bit odd. We took them both home and set them up in my garage with everything they need (i did a lot of googling). Unfortunately, the odd chick didn't do so well. I held the little guy as he passed away. Horrible right? Well, not really, that's just life. Growing up on a ranch, you get used to animals coming and going. Horrible is having to explain to my young children the nature of life and death on a holiday.

In the end, I decided to make the best of the situation. I LOVE animals, and I still had a healthy baby chick to take care of. I couldn't justify raising him alone (chickens are social animals). My partner and I decided to go all out. We went and purchased two rhode island red chicks so our little guy wouldn't be lonely and I got to work planning out their new home. 

The little Houdan chick also started displaying similar odd behaviors like the one that had passed. As such, I've spent the last two sleepless nights monitoring him. I'm happy to report that so far we are good. He's eating, drinking, doing chicken stuff, and terrorizing the other chicks. Not sure what to call him yet, but little buddy will have to do for now. 

I never wanted bloody chickens. I don't even like eating eggs. But i'll turn it into a good situation and love the heck out of 'em anyways.