A TALK WITH MIL ABOUT........"TRANSLERS"

                                        Chilean Rose-Hair Tarantula

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WERE THE CLOVIS "TRANSLERS" WORLD--CLASS?
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No, my reader, this was not a sports team. as my editor thought. (That team was the "Wildcats!) These were hairy spiders that lived in little holes in vacant lots, all around our neighborhood! To be exact, they were about number fifteen on our unwritten list of "go to" activities, if things got slow and boring and we got tired of playing (with the water hose) "JAP ZEROS DOWN~IN~FLAMES."

Let me try to explain this spider activity to anyone who did not live in the forties. You see, when we got a little bit of spare time on our hands, we set our to rid the world (and Clovis) of these vicious spiders-- one neighborhood at a time! These "translers" lived in round holes, right out in the middle of the prairie. I reckon these holes were about the size of forties-boys' most commonly-used currency- a Buffalo nickel.

The accepted way of catching "translers" was to get some Fleer's Double Bubble, chew it up a right smart, get a hefty piece of string, wad the gum around a knot on the end of the string, and proceed to yank it up and down the vertical hole, out there in the middle of the prairie, tempting the spider to cling to the irresistible gum, enjoying a good chaw! Then you'd pull up your string quickly and he was caught!

Mil, just how big and vicious WERE these spiders that were threatening Clovis? Well. er, you know, we had heard through lore that they were very vicious and deadly-- if one of them bit you, What lore was that, Mil? Well, you know--"Kids' Neighborhood Lore,"--the Grapevine. Good dependable boy-lore! You know.

I don't want to minimize the danger, risk, and the courage we showed in this activity-- for we were tough little American boys-- with True Grit,  but they were probably NOT your LOWER PAPUA NEW GUINEA: SIZE-OF-A-HAND TRANSLERS.  And they were not always that vicious, I guess, though there was a rumor going around that there was a "jumping/spitting" venomous transler that could spit in your eye at three feet!

So Mil, are you saying that the Clovis spiders that you caught with bubble gum, were picayunish, pusillanimous, garden-variety, run-of-the-mill, third-class translers, and not-- Lower Borneo, Amazon Rain Forest, Honduran Jungle, Bataan Pennisula world class "TRANSLERS?"

Yep! I reckon that's about it. But remember, they were all the translers we had, and we would have caught bigger ones but our gum was pretty much chewed out, you know--the flavor was about gone!

You may say, "Well, Mil, it seems a little strange for an older guy to be as interested in translers, as you are, don't you think? " Well, boyhood was an interesting time, Clovis was a great home town, I grew up with the best of friends, and those were pretty hefty spiders.

Any other word for us, Mil? "My readers, I have a confession to make to you: I got a transler for Christmas!"

(This post proudly dedicated to "Country Boy Bob,"a Transler Hunter" "in his own right," and of the First Magnitude; one who braved those weedy Clovis vacant lots with me!)

                                         Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula

Mil's Christmas Tarantula

(Is it real?  I'll never tell!)

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BY MIL

12/26/12

Sent from my iPad