People are creatures of habit and like most folks I get attached to things. I’ve been married for nearly 50 years to the only girlfriend I’ve ever had. We are cut from the same cloth in that both of us are fiercely loyal to products we grew up using.

I’ve been a lifelong customer of Union Oil because they employed me in the oilfields when they really didn’t have to. I was paid $5.85 an hour when the minimum wage was $1.25 and I could never have gone to college without them.

In the course of writing my syndicated column for 40 years, I’ve used a hardbound Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary every day that was given to me by a school teacher when I graduated from high school. It’s got my name imprinted on it in gold and it’s the best gift I’ve ever received. I bought my Macintosh computer in 1984 and it made me a much better writer at a time when I could use all the help I could get. I became a lifelong fan of everything Apple.

In the lefthand pocket of my jeans is the Case knife I bought after I sold my first Grand Champion steer. Although it has cut me to the bone on a couple occasions, I don’t think it did it on purpose and you’ll never find me without it. For as long as I can remember I’ve worn Pendleton shirts, Justin roper boots and JCPenney underwear.

Every time I grab one of my great grandfather’s wood planes it feels like we are shaking hands across the ages. In my shop rests the family anvil that was made in 1845 and it still rings true. I could never go into a Sears store without buying a Craftsman tool and now I have a shop full of them. The new Craftsman tools that are made in China just aren’t the same.

Whenever I mounted up it was in my grandpa’s saddle and I’ve never used a bit, reins, or a pair of spurs that weren’t his. I wear a Stetson hat because he did. I used the same trucker to haul our cattle until he retired because he always had the latest copy of our livestock newspaper in his cab.

My wife and I drew up the plans to our home and have been the only ones to live in it now for 36 years and I can’t stand the thought that someone someday will be living in OUR house. I can find my way to the bathroom in the black of night without ever turning on a light and I know all our home’s groans and moans. Practically every piece of furniture in our house came from my family or my wife’s. She sleeps in the same bed her parents did and I write on my great-grandma’s desk and eat off the same table I did when I finally escaped the baby’s high chair and got to sit with the grownups.

I’ve never owned a bulldozer but if I did you can bet it would be a Caterpillar because the Cat dealer in my county bought my second Grand Champion steer, which allowed me to buy my first cows, which set me on my cattleman course for life. I wore the Cat hat they gave me until it was in tatters and used a pocket watch just so I could attach it to the watch fob they gave me.

I’ve been a General Motors fan for life ever since a GM dealer bought another Grand Champion steer which allowed me to escape a toxic home life. My wife and I bought eight Oldsmobiles in a row from a GM dealer who became one of our best friends. When GM stopped making Oldsmobiles, our friend took us to the Buick dealer and told him to treat us well. He did and we’ve driven the same Buick Lucerne now for 15 years. We drove our last Chevy truck for 25 years.

Why am I telling you all of this? If you own a business and are sitting on the fence about buying an FFA or 4-H animal at the fair this summer let my life be a lesson. You’ll not only be helping a youngster you could very well be buying a lifelong customer as well.