Thistle Hunting

I was getting my hair cut the other day at a local beauty shop, "Cuttin Up" in Waller Texas. As Erin is cutting my hair we were swapping information about the families, what my kids are doing, what her family is doing. Then she tells me her father went thistle hunting without her?????? I asked what do you mean, thistle???? She said you know those thorny weeds that grow out in the pasture. I was just checking to make sure this isn't some new fangled thing I haven't heard about. She told me her and her father would go Thistle Hunting, they would take a shovel, loosen up the dirt under the thistle and then (with heavy duty gloves on) pull it out of the ground. I'm thinkin' what a great dad, he had his daughter spending time with him and digging up weeds at the same time and it was fun. WOW Now if I called my grandson up and asked him to go Thistle Hunting with me he would think I was the greatest Grandma ever. Thistle's are about a foot and a half tall and yes they are prickly. If you look at the photo one of the buds have already opened and the seeds are scattered. I didn't take this picture at my house, I couldn't find one darn thistle in our whole yard. My husband took me down the road and they were everywhere in the ditches. So here I am in the ditch taking photos of this thistle....... I guess that makes me a Thistle Hunter too????