There’s an ongoing debate about whether corporations are people.  We could debate this but at the Belted Cow Company we prefer to leave the debate to others and simply try to contribute to the common good in a meaningful way.  We also try to make it personal and typically focus our attention on those local organizations where we have personal knowledge of its mission and commitment.  Check out our “Beltie For a Cause” designs for links to these organizations.

Sometimes a particularly thoughtful non-local request catches our attention too.  A chance meeting on a flight to Los Angeles with Cynthia Karsten, an energetic veterinarian from the Koret Shelter Medicine Program turned into an opportunity for the Belted Cow to help quite a distance away from our Maine home.  Dr. Karsten volunteers at a week-long spay/neuter clinic in the Bahamas to prevent the birth of hundreds of unwanted litters of uncared for animals.  If you check out the video from the last clinic,  you will see that this is not exactly a “sun & fun” week in the Bahamas but it is a wonderful example of how small acts of kindness can make a big difference.  The organizations were looking for collars and leashes to help identify cared-for animals so that they will not be picked up by animal control and “removed.”  We were impressed with the thoughtfulness of her request and mission and decided to help.

So, while we didn’t go to the Bahamas, our collars and leashes did and we thank Dr. Karsten for the opportunity to help out.  Here’s a photo of a Belted Cow dog collar  taking a worthwhile (and permanent) Bahamas vacation!

Our new home for the Belted Cow Company & Warehouse Store:

247 Portland Street
Yarmouth, Maine 04096 

 We spent the first weeks of January moving to a new location. It’s only across the street but it’s a whole new shopping experience!  Our new location is right off Rte 295 with convenient and ample parking.  Please stop in and visit our new well-lit warehouse store with thousands of Maine Made casual belts, dog collars and leashes to browse.  If you’re in a creative mood, you can work with a Belted Cow designer to create your own unique style with the “Design Your Own” totes and flip flops. 

During your visit we would love to show you how we start with an idea or artist sketch and through Maine craftsmanship and ingenuity create Belted Cow products.  Please come by and say hello.   And yes, dogs are welcome!

Located just 10 minutes from Freeport Maine shopping.  We will make your stop worthwhile!

Was involved in an incident a few weeks ago that made me make a bee-line (or in this case, a dog-line) straight to Google to get the definitive answer on whether or not dogs are color blind.  Turns out that I’m not the first person to ask this question as it appeared as the first “Google choice” once I typed in the two words, “Are dogs…”   It seems the answer is not entirely clear, but many “internet authorities” suggest that dogs see the world in yellows, blues and violets.  I must respectfully disagree.  Dogs see red! 

 Here’s what happened.  For exercise I enjoy running and have run a 6-mile loop near our house more times than I can recall.  Many hundreds.  And never once during all of those runs have I ever been charged or confronted by a dog.  That all changed the other day when I slipped on a brand new pair of fire engine red Nike running shoes.  I know, I know.  Fire engine red.  What was I thinking?  What can I say – the shoes were slipper-comfortable.  Anyway, during the course of one run; not one, not two but three different dogs, on three separate occasions, went absolutely berserk and charged me (and my red shoes) as I ran by.  These weren’t fake charges either, but teeth-baring, lip-curling, mad-barking brouhahas!  (At 6:30 in the morning!)  One sprinted nearly ¼ mile up a steep bank to challenge me!  It’s interesting that I’ve passed all of these dogs before without incident, so the shoes had to have been the culprit.  Of course any true scientist would suggest repeating the experiment for repeatable results.  But by the next day it was too late as I had donated the shoes to a friend with the same foot size and asked him repeat the experiment.  So now I’m out one perfectly good pair of new running shoes, but using the theory that any intelligent animal can learn and adapt, I’m thinking of dropping off three new  Belted Cow dog leashes this holiday season.  Jim Williams’ Three Wise Labs, design with just the right splash of red, seems just about perfect!

Musings from veteran rower, varsity crew coach & regatta logistics guru - CC Stockly

Ah, race prep.  Every time a rower — or worse, a whole crew team — starts packing up to travel to a regatta, the complexities of the process boggle the mind.  From the 7/16 wrenches which seem to disappear from the toolbox like socks from the dryer to the rigger nuts which fall to the floor of the boathouse and bounce off to hidden corners; from the tiny little seat bungies to the plastic wrap for the riggers, the list of supplies seems to eclipse that of any other sport. 

 De-rig.  Wrap riggers, wash boats, load.  Tie down, add flags, check lights on trailer.  Fix lights on trailer.

 Load oars, load riggers, load tool boxes and coxboxes and slings.  Add a spare seat or two, an extra speaker just in case, and your three brand new 7/16 wrenches, because we all know about 7/16 wrenches.  They are not reliably where you need them to be.

Check that the appropriate number of port and starboard oars are on the trailer.  Congratulate yourself for remembering to turn the trailer around in the narrow boatyard before the boats increased its turning radius by half.  Check every tie down on every boat on the trailer.  Re-check the lights. 

 Zip ties, in case all the heels aren’t tied down.  Med kit.  Sunscreen.  Directions to the launch site.  Event schedule.  W-D 40.  Duct tape, because it can solve so many problems.

 Lash the boats on the trailer and hit the road.  Recite whatever Mantra you need to get you through the drive, with tens of thousand of dollars being pulled behind you, buffeted by the winds of the eighteen wheelers passing you on port. Do your best to ignore the tailgaters who are fascinated by the sixty-foot-long vessels: (“Look at them Canoes, Ethy!  Why d’ya suppose they got such long ones?  What’s it say on that flag right there in front of us?”).  Be careful to leave room when turning:  in shell vs road sign/gas pump/city bus, the boat inevitably loses.  Good luck parking. 

2006 Vespoli and 1999 Kaschper fours being retrieved from Haddon Township Crew Club...with help from AAA

Don’t break down.  Even if you’re car-topping, the tow trucks don’t know what to do with you.   

Get to the regatta.  Unload. Rig. Race.

 Then do the whole thing over again.  The ratio of equipment preparation to race time seems particularly absurd in the spring.  And yet you do it, over and over again.

 Simplify the rest of your life with a Belted Cow Rowing Belt:  one piece, easy to use, easy to adjust.  No 7/16 wrench required.

 Ready all, Row!

As bike riders ourselves and supporters of such organizations at the  Bicycle Coalition of Maine (with our High Mountains of the Tour design), we’re very proud to be a charter sponsor of Young Guns Racing Project  (YGRP), a group of young people energized to, “Bring Cycling to Southern Maine’s Youth.”

We’re proud of our logo on the team uniform because we embrace YGRP’s team spirit, camaraderie and mission of helping to engage young people in the life-long sport of cycling.  We believe that their enthusiasm is reflective of what we’re trying to do at The Belted Cow  –strive toward excellence in product, design and customer service and do so with vigor, fun and adventure.

Good luck Young Guns!  Ride hard, aim high!  When we’re not trying to catch your peloton, we’ll be cheering you from the sidelines!

My wife was lucky enough to grow up along the coast in Maine and spent countless hours playing on one of the thousands of islands that dot the rocky Maine coastline.  To her, lobster boats, bell buoys and surf crashing into rocky coastline were simply a part of her childhood years.  The Maine coastline tip-toed into her spirit and dreams and her dream was to live on an island with a lighthouse and be the lighthouse keeper.  Of course now, in our automated universe, lighthouse keepers have gone the way of typewriters and pay telephones, but back in the 1960’s and 1970’s it was possible to find manned lighthouses and she didn’t think twice to sprint to her high school’s main office when she spied a help wanted notice for a lighthouse keeper.  “I’m interested in the lighthouse keeper position,” she panted to the school secretary.  “Of course”, came the reply.  “A woman is looking for a student to help her out with light housekeeping. Duties would include sweeping, dusting and window washing!”   “Lighthouse keeper” versus “Light housekeeper.”  It’s no wonder English is such a maddening language for foreigner’s to master!  

Check out our East Coast Lights design as well as other authentic Maine sailing and coastal designs for quality, Maine-made belts and accessories at www.beltedcow.com.   And if you ever find yourself on Casco Bay, take a cruise out to this remote lighthouse perched on Halfway Rock.

I think our son was around eight years old when he proudly presented me with this handmade father’s day beauty.  An art class project, the coffee mug (with very functional top) has made me smile many times over the years as it stands at innocent attention on my dresser among my most treasured treasures. 

Maybe someday I’ll re-gift this masterpiece back to our son…his bachelor party seems about the right time…so that he too can enjoy for many years the best father’s day gift of all time.  I mean everything about it says, “it’s great to be a father!”

But until you come up with your own idea that’s better than the “grip lid coffee mug,” may I suggest a gift for dad that’s timeless and functional –and will also bring a smile to dad’s heart day after day.  Check out The Belted Cow for a father’s day gift that’s just as functional as this mug.  Available in both leather tab and d-ring styles, The Belted Cow will have a handmade, casual belt design that he will love –so much that he’ll want to keep it on top of his dresser along with his special coffee mug too!

Happy Father’s Day!

We selected our packaging because we wanted it to be reused -not added to our already clogged waste stream. So now we want to see what’s in your Belted Cow tin!

E-mail us a photo of your tin in action and we’ll send you a 10% off gift code for anything in our store -good through May 31, 2011. Why? Simply because we want to say thank you to all of our customers who try their best to reuse and recycle.

Please e-mail your photo to info@beltedcow.com. We’ll send you a return e-mail with your coupon code. (You may use the code more than once if you wish!)

Thank you!

The Belted Cow Company

One of the nice things about being a small company is that we can blog our Annual Report in a few sentences!  No trees or resources wasted! 

Actually, our Annual Report is mostly a thank you note to you, our friends and customers.

Thanks to you, we celebrated our 5^th year in business in 2010.  We introduced a new website to make your online shopping experience more pleasant.  We intend to make our site increasingly interactive in the New Year and trust that you will enjoy your Belted Cow website experience even more next year.

Thank you for supporting our decision this year to broaden our focus and include artwork that may be more appealing to women.  Speaking of artwork, we are excited to welcome several new talented artists into the Belted Cow creative family and look forward to debuting designs from them in early 2011.

And speaking of being thrilled, David Timm, our newest employee has totally energized our office with a creative spirit and heartfelt commitment to our mission and customers.  Look for David at a retail show nearby and contact him if you have any show ideas.  We feel most fortunate to have such a wonderful team and hope that our total commitment to quality, creativity and customer service shines through to you.

 Finally, congratulations to Darren from Washington, DC, the winner of our holiday lottery.  We value the relationship we have with our e-mail newsletter customers and will be strengthening that bond in the New Year with more contests, specials and give-aways.

 Our warmest wishes of thanks and peace to you and yours this holiday season.

 The Belted Cow Staff

I know.  If you tried to do all the things “they” say you should to prevent disease, you’d probably suffer from an acute mental disorder within weeks from overload stress alone.  Nonetheless, when a legitimate study announces a 64% drop in risk for developing breast cancer for women who exercise vigorously at least two times per week, it seems cause for raised eyebrows!  The study was conducted at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and also indicated that even moderate exercise has notable benefits.

So, back at The Belted Cow Company, we thought this news item a wonderfully positive excuse to invite a peek behind the curtain at a new design in our women’s line.  With inspiring artwork from Maine artist and athlete, Alison Bramhall,  we think of our “Go Girl Go!” design as pink adrenaline with a whole lot of class.  We hope you like it as much as we do.