Two Bits
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Julie Ellingson
Executive Vice President
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My sons, Stetson and Jameson, have been excellent helpers around the ranch this summer. They’ve been busy checking and moving cattle, helping put up a bumper hay crop and pitching in with whatever else needs to be done. Most of the time, they enjoy their work, not just because they like the outdoors and are ranch kids through and through, but also because their chores allow them to get behind the wheel of our “Old Brownie” pickup from time to time. For you and me, driving might not be too exciting anymore, but, when you’re in junior high, it is still a rush.
Brownie is a chocolate brown 1990 crew cab Ford F150 and the official farm truck at Ellingson Angus. It’s the wheels the boys occasionally get to use in fields and gentle-terrained pastures. We bought the truck about eight years ago, after my husband noticed a for-sale ad in the newspaper. It was just the kind of vehicle we were looking for – respectable enough if we ever had to drive it to town, reliable enough that it could get us there, yet ranchy enough to be within our price range! The owner wasn’t someone we knew, but he seemed friendly and trustworthy, so we struck a deal and the pickup was ours. It’s treated us pretty well over the years, and we’ve tried to reciprocate the favor. The pickup has never received as much love from Chad and I as it has from Stetson and Jameson this summer though. They’ve worked hard to keep it looking as nice as a weathered farm truck can. The other night when I was making supper, I noticed that the boys had teamed up with their sister, Sierra, and were giving the pickup a handwash. I can’t remember the last time that happened. It wasn’t long until a trio of wet, muddy kids came running through the front door, beckoning for me to come outside and take a look at Old Brownie. When I did get outside, the kids explained that, while they were scrubbing, they had noticed that the pickup had a few faded spots on either side of the cab. After some more scrubbing and a close examination of the area in the intensity of the just-about-to-set sun, they realized that the fading was from where some decals had formerly been adhered. But not just any decals – NDSA decals! Sure enough, they were right! There they were. When you stand at just the right angle and squint a little bit, you can see the NDSA logos. Based on its model year, the pickup was likely one driven by former Chief Brand Inspector Jack Chase or one of his fieldmen before it was traded in, changed who knows how many hands and then it found its way to St. Anthony, swapping a career in law enforcement and brand inspection for some other adventures, like being a mail-fetching machine, a fence-fixing wagon, the ambulance for a sick calf or two, the birthplace of at least one batch of kittens and even a Sunday-drive sedan on a few occasions. Some might say fate is how this vehicle ended up with us. Others might say it was divine intervention. Certainly, everyone will agree that this incredible coincidence made an already special old farm truck all the better for two young boys.
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