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A GUEST AUTHOR’S Harvest Story THESE STORIES ARE ALWAYS INFORMATIVE AND USUALLY HAVE A BIT OF TONGUE AND CHEEK HUMOR.
IT IS ALWAYS FUN TO SHARE WITH OTHERS, DIFFERENT WAYS OF HARVESTING, THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT WE HAVE FACED OUT THERE WHILE WE WERE HARVESTING.
REGGIE
Hi, Reggie,
Don't think I ever shared this one with you, so if you are looking for new harvesting adventures - well, it's actually several years old.
Mortimer's Casino on Carmel Street was a somewhat difficult card room to buy chips from. They usually had only a couple of tables in use at any given time and the dealers were busy. But, in the past, I had been able to buy one or two chips at a time. So, one day I returned to find . . . bright new yellow $1 chips in use at the tables. Ah-ha!!!!
I decided the best place to ask was the Cage, so up I went, and the lady there agreed to sell me a few of them, maybe ten. Off I went, happy, and began driving home. It was only then that I noticed that some of the new ceramic chips were marked CI (for Chipco) but a few others bore the manufacturer's mark MC (Mortimer's Casino? But why mark a chip with its initials?). Otherwise, the colors/designs were identical.
Of course I realized I had found a "treasure." No problem - I would return to Mortimer's the next time I was at my campsite about 40 miles up the coast. Piece of cake, right? When I strutted into the card room a month or so later, I was told by the (new) Cage Person (a Hispanic man) that he absolutely could not sell any chips to me! His words were, "The boss told me, no sales. I could get in a lot of trouble if I sold even one."
The little casino was arranged so that if I went to any of the couple of tables then in use - Mr. Cage Man would see me and raise a fit, and then Mr. Mean Tuffguy Guard standing at the doorway and already scowling at me would give me the heave-ho out of there. So I decided to return at yet another date when, hopefully, Mr. Cage Man was not on duty or (deliciously evil thought) had been fired for some other indiscretion. I left wondering just why the sudden change of casino policy.
When I returned yet another month later - Mortimer's was gone, closed and padlocked! I read from online posts that the card dealers were unaware of the closing; the dealers showed up for work one night and found the place permanently locked with a note of the door saying the casino was out of business. And the usual card players came up behind them and everyone just stood around shaking their heads.
Don't know what became of the chips. Did I get enough from that one trip? DEFINITELY NOT!
All I can show you is a pretty picture: ChipGuide # CG 067021 vs. CG 122545.
J. Eric Freedner
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