Sounds like the dip stick I need is longer. Have two junk yards nearby (never had any luck finding stuff in them), plus one about 50 miles away that my neighbor goes to when he wants a Mopar core engine to play with. I can give him a call to see what he might have. I hear he is a hillbilly type who knows his stuff and is eager to please. That would be refreshing.
On the water pump, I noticed it too was weeping along the gasket, so probably needs to come off at some point anyway. This is the pump number (upside down), and what photos I could get. Turns out water pumps are hard to photograph and not very glamorous when you do.