Carl Vertrees

We’ve decided we’re not ready to be a one-car family.

In October, a car came through the intersection of Sixth and Maple and hit the right rear quarter panel of the Subaru Ginger was driving. The damage didn’t appear too severe, and the car was drivable.

We didn’t realize auto body shops were still experiencing supply chain issues, so it was mid-November before we received an estimate and almost Christmas before the shop scheduled us for repairs. In mid-January, the body shop discovered more damage, and our insurance company declared the station wagon a total loss and wrote us a check.

We’re old, and we don’t drive nearly as much as we used to. No daily commutes, no long roadtrips. A six-hour trek to the Seattle area to visit our older daughter’s family and our brothers is about as far as we usually drive.

So, we decided we would not replace the car for a while. A trip to the gym most weekdays involves both of us. Wednesday noon meetings of Kiwanis involve just me. Weekly grocery shopping trips are usually Ginger’s bailiwick. Visits to the barber shop or hair salon are separate issues. Occasional doctor or dental appointments are also separate issues, but sometimes we had to reschedule something because we hadn’t consulted the calendar before scheduling.

When we returned from a vacation in March, we decided having one vehicle didn’t give us the flexibility we needed, so we started the quest for a replacement vehicle.

Sticker shock wasn’t a real issue. We hadn’t bought a new car since 2011 — that station wagon still has less than 80,000 miles. We knew cars cost more, so we settled on a 2015 model and dipped into our savings to supplement the insurance settlement.

Three months later we haven’t put that many miles on either vehicle, but we don’t have to reschedule appointments because we’ve inadvertently doubled up.

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How does your garden grow? Despite a few visits from deer coming out of the canyon, our crops seem to be faring well. Some light frosts adorned rooftops, but haven’t harmed our vegetables.

We’re pondering what will be ready the first week of August to exhibit at the Deschutes County Fair.

We have a vested interest. Since 2008, Ginger and I have been superintendents of Land Products in the open class building, the South Sister. Land products includes fruits and vegetables, herbs, hay, honey and eggs. The judging is done anonymously, so we can enter the specimens we’re proud of without risking favoritism from the judges or criticism for a conflict of interest.

We urge you to consider entering what you’re growing. The premium book was distributed in May, and all of the exhibit categories are also on the Deschutes County Fair and Rodeo website.

You can preregister your exhibits on-line now until July 23. However, because growing seasons are so unpredictable and variable in Central Oregon, you can wait until Tuesday, August 1, to walk in with your exhibit and register it then for land products and the separate floral categories.

Land and farm products represent the bounty of your farm, city garden or limited container space. There are separate competitions for adults and youth. The rest of the South Sister contains the other Open Class exhibits which epitomize the rural values on which county fairs were founded. Enjoy the labors of your friends and neighbors and remember the fairs of your youth. If you enter your own, you compete with pride for bragging rights, colorful ribbons and cash prizes.

We’re fortunate to have the Deschutes County Fair in our own backyard, and the new state-of-the-art facilities in the south Redmond location since 1999. It is consistently one of the best county fairs in the state and competes for attendance records with the Oregon State Fair in Salem.