curious, anybody run into this?

How clean is the rest of the stick? Is it brown, varnished, dirty?
no, the stick is otherwise clean. But the engine oil was pretty dirty, and a quart low when I bought it. I immediately changed oil and filter, after purchase. I just changed the oil again, after only 1350 miles because the oil was changing color again so quickly, and I like to change oil at even number mileages, ie. 120k miles.
I'd post a pic of the dipstick end, if I knew how. Isn't there a trick to it?