Tumbleweed grows to alarming size while rolling through town
It was the size of a biscuit when it left the Henderson yard. By the time it reached the feed store it was taller than the post office.
Residents of Dry Creek gathered along Main Street on Thursday afternoon to watch a tumbleweed do something tumbleweeds are not supposed to do: get bigger.
“It picked up my newspaper,” said Earl Duval, 71, who was reading on the bench outside the barber shop. “Then it picked up the bench. Then it came back for the barber.” The barber, Tony Reyes, was later found unharmed and still holding his scissors.
Witnesses agree that the tumbleweed first appeared near the Henderson property on Route 9 at about 3:50 p.m. It was small enough, Mrs. Henderson said, “to sweep into a dustpan, if I had known what it was planning.”
From there it rolled east with the afternoon wind, collecting whatever it touched. Early reports listed three garden gnomes, a mailbox, most of a picket fence and one goat, which was returned later that evening in good spirits.
It seemed to know exactly which things it was big enough to take.Deputy Ruth Oyelaran, Sheriff’s Office
Deputies tried to steer the tumbleweed away from the elementary school using two pickup trucks and a borrowed fishing net. “It rolled over the net,” said Deputy Oyelaran. “Then it rolled over the idea of the net.”
Scientists at the state university say the event is unusual but not impossible. “Tumbleweeds are mostly Russian thistle, which is very good at getting tangled,” said Dr. Priya Nand, a plant ecologist. “Anything it tangles makes it bigger, so it can tangle bigger things. That is a feedback loop. I would love to see it. From a distance.”
If it comes your way
- Stay indoors and keep small objects off the porch.
- Do not try to lasso it. Two people have tried. We now have two fewer lassos.
- Report sightings to the Sheriff’s Office at 555-0142.
- If it takes your hat, let it go. The hat has made its choice.
As of press time the tumbleweed was last seen heading toward the rodeo grounds at a steady walking pace, now roughly the size of a barn. The Courier will keep readers updated as it grows.