This is not the first photograph of a cat sleeping on a sunny patch on the floor, but it is the first one of Opie doing this. It is not cold, and she has much thick fur, but for some reason, she likes it. Maybe she has a vitamin D deficiency? She has been sleeping in that spot lately, even when the sun is not shining.
Opie in the sun
Opie in the sun
New Monopoly Cat Token
In February 2013, Hasbro, the makers of the game Monopoly held a vote of the people on the internet, to decide on a new game token. The choice was between a cat, diamond ring, guitar, helicopter, and robot. The winner was, of course, the cat! My second choice would have been the diamond ring, because, after all, the game is about money. The flat iron was discontinued. R.I.P. Iron (1935 – 2013). Personally, I would have deleted the “battleship”, which has it’s original 1940 design. The game is not about war. The cannon was introduced in 1940 along with the battleship token. They were both parts of game titled “Conflict” which failed miserably commercially. The two pieces, already produced, were simply added to the Monopoly game, when America was at the eve of war.
Deleted Monopoly Tokens
The horse and rider appeared in the 1950’s. I do not know when it was dropped. The cannon disappeared in the 1960’s. There was a money bag which came, and went in the 1990’s.
In August 2013, the new game featuring the cat was delivered to stores. They also introduced the Monopoly Classic Limited Edition Golden Cat Token! (Wish I had one now!)
Monopoly
I decided I had to go out and buy one of the first edition games introducing the cat. The box was already produced with the dog prominently displayed on the front. Rather than print a new box, they stuck a round yellow sticker on front, letting us know that the new “cat” was inside! If you pay attention, you will see my photo of the real cat token is looking to the left, while the cat token shown on the yellow sticker is looking to the right! It is a mirror image of the real cat token. I do not know how that happened. Perhaps if I keep this game for 50 or 60 years, I will become rich! I purchased this game at “Target” for $12.99 (€9.37).
Oops! I just remembered something! In 1957, I received a Monopoly game, which I have been playing to this very day! That is 57 years ago! There are many memories associated with that game.
I checked on “ebay”, and there was a mint condition, never played 1957 edition with an asking price of $70 (€50). My game is well worn and played, so no riches for me!
1957 edition
1957 edition
If you want a cat token, but do not want to purchase a new game, I have a suggestion below.
I call this one the “Opie token.” She is quite willing to walk about on the game board.
There is a version of the Monopoly game called “Cat-Opoly.” Every part of the game is cat related. There is, however, no cat token used in the game!
Was the new Monopoly cat token added to new Monopoly games in countries other than America?
Here we are at the Feline Cafe Control Center. We had a large project recently. We replaced Windows XP operating system with another. My 8 year old desktop runs much better now. I hate getting rid of things that work, and get the job done, just because they are old. The mania here is to buy the newest thing as soon as it shows up in stores. You cannot live without it! That would be a blog subject in itself, but I am trying to stay on the topic of cats as much as possible these days. As you can see from the photos presented below, I have lots of technical help when I am trying to do something!
What is an orb?
What is a spirit or ghost orb?
What is “backscatter” in photography?
Did I photograph a ghost cat?
I will address these questions today with two original still photographs.
This will be my first blog of the new year 2014. Let us get down to the business at hand. I purchased the “Mega Spiral Penthouse” from a “Drs. Foster and Smith” mail order catalog. I ordered it long before Christmas. I received it long before Christmas. I put it together long before Christmas. I stored it in a large closet. The box it came in was too heavy for me to lift. I emptied the box in the hallway, and put it together there.
Above see Opie inspecting the box.
Above are the parts. How did they all fit into that box? The instructions say that all that is needed to put it together is a 7/16 inch wrench. That is true, but it is slow to do. I found using a ratchet with a 7/16 inch socket to be much faster! I did have some trouble putting together the two long round posts. They were a bit difficult to line up properly. Below see Opie inspecting the construction progress.
Here is the finished penthouse. There is a dangling “break-away” yellow ball toy attached by a snap. There is a scratching post.
I tried several tricks to get the cats interested in the new penthouse. They were ignoring it. I noticed the carpet on it has a strong smell. Maybe they do not like it. Catnip was no help. Playing with toys upon it did not work. Putting packing paper upon it got some attention. Opie is making close observation of Marigold in the penthouse.
As the days passed, the cats got more interested.
The paper was no longer necessary. I am satisfied with it.
I moved it over to where the Christmas tree used to stand. They were missing the tree. UPDATE Feb 26, 2019: We still use it every day.
A few months back, I purchased a new feathery cat toy, which I had noticed reading some other cat blogs. This one is called “Da Bird”, and actually has real bird feathers. This is the reason I believe it is so popular. I must be careful that the cat does not catch Da Bird and chew through the feathers.
The instructions say to put it where the cat cannot get to it, otherwise, the cat will chew it up, and it will be useless. I purchased mine by mail-order, and purchased an extra feather “bird”, for when the first bird gets destroyed. Da Bird is made in America. Real bird feathers are attached by a fishing “leader” to a string. The string is attached to a pole. The string got tangled up on a cat, and I had to cut the string, to free the cat. Then, I just tied the string back together.
Everyone likes it. Zeke is the most enthusiastic player. It is difficult to take photographs while cat “birding.” Marigold, my oldest, likes it as well; however, she is not shown playing here.
Where is this bird coming from?
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| Zeke, Marigold, and Opie (Searching for fleas on TV) |
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| Zeke having a close look! |
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| Interesting! |
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| Opie |
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| Batting the bird back and forth to Opie |
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| Got my foot on it! |
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| Catch Opie! |
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| I will catch it by surprise! |
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| Look out Opie! |
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| it is moving away! (The woman on TV is watching!) |
All in all, Da Bird is a very popular toy which I recommend.
Be certain to put it away in a place where the cats cannot get it, when you are away!!!
Feline Café 