By the time many of you read this, my family and I will have put our dear friend and gentle protector Victor down for his final rest. I wanted to take a minute to share a few thoughts with you, the loyal listeners and viewers who have been with me from the time we first brought Victor into our home so many years ago.

It was right after 9/11 that I received my first death threat. . It was the first time I ever had any professional interaction with the FBI and we were told to go home. We didn’t even have curtains on the windows of our house at that time. I went home and I explained as calmly as I could to Tania that we had to take sheets and blankets and put them on our window as soon as we could.

That night, we had a serious discussion about what steps we needed to take to protect ourselves. Neither of us had ever owned a gun, and laughably at the time we didn’t feel we were responsible enough to have one in the house. I was living in Florida at the time and I took my family to Los Angeles and we couldn’t tell anybody that we were in LA for a month. When we came home, we knew we needed something in the house to protect us.

We went to Harrison K9, and the found us a kind and gentle protector who would become one of the most important members of our family: Victor.

Before I moved to New York City, there was rarely a moment when Victor wasn’t by my side. Those of you who were with us back during the Insider days probably remember seeing him in the WPHT studios in Philadelphia. He had a spot on the studio floor, and he would sit by my side, quietly watching and listening to the show. Looking back, I’m so thankful to have had a chance to have my best friend with me at all hours of the day.

He was a part of the show, and Insiders even got to see life through his eyes with “The Victor Cam”. It is a testament to his kindness, gentleness, and patience that he let us put that thing on his head.

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Tim DiDonato is Design Manager of 1791 Supply & Co. He has been with 1791 since its founding and is responsible for the research and design of the products. Tim is married to Glenn’s daughter, Hannah, and the two live with their rescue dog, Hans, and their cat in Dallas, Texas. Below is a glimpse into his typical day.

7:43 AM: I don’t set an alarm. I have always had a mental alarm clock. I literally wake up at the same minute every day. When I first relocated from New York to Dallas, I set an alarm clock for about three weeks, and now I wake up at 7:43 every morning without an alarm.

8:00 AM: Next I put the dog out. He is mix – American foxhound and Italian greyhound. We rescued him in Dallas, and his name is Hans. He came with the name. Someone at a dog park once asked me, “Did you name your dog after Inglorious Bastards?” I was like, “No, I did not name my dog after a Nazi.” After I put him out, I jump in the shower. By the time I get out of the shower, Hannah is up, so I get changed and get ready for the day. Since 1791 is a new brand, I really like to test out the clothes. I am always wearing my 1791 jeans with either a work shirt or a flannel shirt of some sort.

8:30 AM: I usually go out and play with the dog for a good 25-30 minutes. And then either Hannah or I, whoever gets to it first, make our lunches. We usually make PB&J’s and switch up the snack with either bananas or peaches.

9:00AM: We head to work around 9 o’clock. Our commute takes about half an hour. We listen to Sirius XM Patriot to hear Glenn’s show on our way. We used to leave at 8:30, but we realized we would just sit in dead stop traffic. Then we tried leaving at 8, but that was even worse. So when we leave at 9 there is no traffic. The people I need to talk to – shops, and factories, and stuff – aren’t open until 10:30 or 11 anyway, so it is fine for me to get in around 9:30.

9:30 AM: I normally get in and go grab coffee. I can never find the milk or sugar that I want, so I am usually running around trying to figure out why it is always missing. And then I head into my office. I normally write a list of the things I need to get done the night before, which helps me assess how I am going to go about the day. Since we are still such a small business, I really like to focus on the quality control end of things. Sometimes I have to write out purchase orders for trims we will need; or I will get in contact with our denim factories to see how things are going with production; or I am checking with our denim mill to make sure everything is being woven on time.

10:15 AM: I don’t really have a specific time I design. I am always just sketching stuff. Most of the time, when designers are working on a season, they lock themselves in a room until it’s done. But we are not on a fashion time schedule like that, so it is nice to have that freedom. I am always redrawing and re-sketching so that we can present it to Glenn. Glenn will tweak it a bit and ask about the ‘why.’ The ‘why’ is really important to us. We are coming out with a couple new products, so I have been ordering sample fabrics. As soon as they come in, we go to the pattern maker. We are working on some new shirting and women’s denim at the moment. We are really excited about that.

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On Tuesday, arguably the biggest Pat & Stu fan of all time went above and beyond to tell the world why she wants TheBlaze added to her cable lineup. She tweeted the following to the duo:

#Iwanttheblazebecause #GetTheBlaze @patandstu @stuontheblaze my song called “Request The Blaze (Pat&Stu)” youtu.be/o4te3nVi70I

— K A C E E marie (@KCMarie89) March 12, 2013

Watch Kacee’s video here:

Awesome.

The question we still have over at TheBlaze is: Did Kacee sing her request to her TV provider when she called to request TheBlaze?

We hope so. How could they say no to that?

Thanks for supporting TheBlaze, Kacee!

Keep singing (or sending) your requests in to your cable and satellite providers! Call 1.800.996.2529 or go to GetTheBlaze.com.

Last week, we got video off a cell phone from Ben at the American Dream Labs. What were they doing out there? The team from the Dream Labs has sent in some new video teasing what they were working on for the Man in the Moon.

When Glenn announced that he would be launching a clothing line with American-made clothing, most in the media were left scratching their heads and many tried to mock. But now that he’s released 1791 Jeans, the fashion world is starting to take notice.

Outside Online, a website and magazine dedicated to encouraging active participation in the world outdoors, has written about 1791 Jeans in the “Plaid and Canvas” feature:

Yet, Americans are becoming more conscious about where their products come from (see: the “locally sourced” movement), and, in the case of blue jeans, it has aligned two very different sorts of people: Glenn Beck and menswear bloggers.

[...]there is something interesting about Beck telling his 27-year-old son-in-law, Tim DiDonato, who Beck hired to design for his 1791 Supply & Co., that “you have to find selvage.”

That was his one specification for the company he supposedly started after seeing a Levi Strauss & Co. commercial using “global revolutions and progressivism to sell their products.” Beck proudly announced that the jeans would be made in the USA, going on to say, “We make them from the same company that Levi’s gave up on,” which isn’t totally correct. Beck’s jeans are made by the same White Oak denim mill Levi’s still does business with, but the man wanted his selvage denim, just like almost every forward-thinking American menswear enthusiast.

Just Google “selvage denim” and you’re bombarded with dozens of results telling you it’s trendy, that hipsters like it, that menswear enthusiasts like it, and etc. While you’re unlikely to see Beck’s jeans worn by models on Milan runways, the timing of Beck’s launch came almost exactly a month after Alex Williams of the New York Times called the “Made in the USA” tag, “a signifier of old-school craftsmanship, even luxury.” The piece even went on to mention the plant used by both Levi Strauss & Co. and Beck, saying “the embrace of domestic goods has also moved beyond scruffy D.J. types in Brooklyn who plunk down $275 for a pair of hand-sewn Dungarees sewn from Cone denim from the company’s White Oak plant in North Carolina.”

Read the full article HERE