‘Flair for decoration’

For anyone driving south of Waseca on the Wilton Bridge Road, an old Ford F-100 pickup truck sits as a greeting to passersby where County Roads 4 and 23 meet.

James Priebe lives close to the truck, in fact, he’s the one who put it there. His girlfriend Laurie Mariner helped him do it. At the time, Laurie wasn’t there to speak for herself, but Priebe said of her, “Yeah, it’s Laurie’s cup of tea to decorate.”

The two brought in the truck on June 1; the tires are flat, but they don’t look it. Black mulch was bagged in and spread around the tires to give the setting a ‘finished’ look. Taken from a little-used barn owned by Lyle Kuhns, it had nearly ended up in a junkyard. The antique gas pump sitting near the truck, James explains, was set there “to add to the ambiance.” Up until this spring when it stopped working, the gas pump was actually still in use on the Lyle Kuhns farm.

James’s father, John Priebe, who is no longer with us, served in the US Army as a cook in the 1960s. James says he set a flagpole with an American flag waving over the scene in honor of his father’s service. The flag is still brand new.

Looked at from the road passing by on the south side of the property, the view of the truck includes a Wilton Township historical marker which reads: “This stone marks the site of the building where the First Official Records of Waseca County were kept.”

Other than the historical marker, James said there was nothing particularly special about the spot.  Conversation between them allowed the plans for the site to grow: “[We] had the idea to put the truck in there, then the flagpole and then the pump for decoration.” He said he bought the flagpole at Fleet Farm.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Priebe pointed to an old milk can in his garden and a cupola riddled with hundreds of bullet holes which was removed from the top of an abandoned barn. Said James, “Laurie put a light inside the cupola, and it looks great at night.” A “cupola” is defined online as a structure set on top of a larger structure to help with air circulation in large spaces. Based on the clever touches, it becomes clear the two, “Especially Laurie” said James, “have a real flair for decoration.”  

Not ones for sitting still, James and Laurie recently finished two projects; staining their house and adding stain to half a canoe destined to become another yard decoration. On a brief tour, James remarked about the grass around his property and the old Ford F-100, “This huge, grassy area takes three hours to mow.” He gets landscaping help from grandson Kenny Spies. “Luckily,” said James, “We haven’t had any vandals messing with the truck yet, so that’s nice.”

Anyone with some time to spare might consider a drive to the intersection of County Roads 4 and 23 meet, south of Waseca in Wilton Township, not far from the Wilton Bridge.