14 | July | 2013 | WEGGIEBOY'S BLOG by Doug Thomas

I don’t recall any nicknames that stuck to me. I am a bit stuffy about such familiarity. My cats, however, don’t get any respect.

Andy has at least two nicknames. “Pretty Boy” and “Pretty Tail”, spoken in an excited tone. Spoken while petting him, these words seem to suit Andy’s needs.

Dougy gets the stick with his nickname, but he’s so mellow he doesn’t care. Yep, his nickname is “Chubs” because he is a bit porky. Not bad, but to a point I make sure to get his veterinarian’s opinion about it each time the boys go in for checkups and booster shots.

Endearments are simple. Both are “Sweety”, because they are. Same for “Good Boy”, which mostly is true!

The boys’ nicknames came out of the confusion I endured when they were kittens and looked identical. Revisiting the videos and photos from that time, I can see the distinctive Andy and Dougy characteristics that weren’t so obvious then. The endearments come out of affection, of course, for a couple of pretty good cats.

Up front you should know I call them all “guns”. A “clip” and a “magazine” kind of register as two different things with me, but the reason to differentiate is needless since I wouldn’t have either in my home, let alone the “gun” they attach to. I’m not comfortable with “guns”.

The George Zimmerman self-defense trial verdict, too, left me uncomfortable. That he is “not guilty”, an attorney will tell you, doesn’t mean he is “innocent”. The distinction is much more important than that between a “clip” and a “magazine”.

George Zimmerman shot a 17-year-old kid in the heart. He isn’t “innocent”, no matter how “not guilty” he might be in Florida, a state with its NRA-friendly “stand your ground” law. To Zimmerman’s credit, he confessed to the killing. It seems he gets a free notch on his pistol grip and accolades from the “stand your ground” folks. Trayvon gets nothing, though, arguably, he was defending himself, too, against a stranger stalking him in the dark.

The trial is over. I hope, in my life time, that America wakes up and a kid can leave his father’s home to buy Skittles and a can of iced tea yet make it back alive. I pray with Trayvon’s family for at least that much.