The first time I heard of them was in June 2008, in East Wenatchee, Washington, on my mission. We shared a car with the elders in the adjoining area, and we had our bikes on the bike rack when we met them. There was talk that my companion, Elder Bramall, had a "goathead" on his tire. I had never heard the term before, but one of them was pulled off the tire. I still didn't get why it was called a "goathead."
At some point, I got to examine one and see that it did look like the head of a goat. Over the course of that summer, I learned what a diabolical little plant they are.
One day, with my next companion, Elder Duncan, we were mowing a member's lawn. Near their dumpster, I found some goat heads, and I examined the plants. That was when I discovered how they work: little cute vines with sharp five-pointed stars, and the stars break up into five goatheads. I think I showed them to Elder Duncan.
The next summer, when I was in Lewiston, Idaho, I got more experience with them. On the southeast corner of the intersection of Grelle Avenue and 18th Street, there were a lot of them. Often when I would bike past, I would stop to pull them out of my tire. My last companion, Elder Tamblyn, often would do that, but at that point I had stopped caring because it was too much work. The slime in my tires did a good job of keeping my tire intact; in fact, the bike tire salesman didn't want me to get slime, saying the tubes he was selling me were good quality, but I knew I had to get it.
I had some shoes that had holes in the bottom. I discovered that I couldn't wear them in the rain, as my feet would get wet, but I thought it would be safe in dry weather. Until the day I stepped in a goathead patch.
One day, Elder Warren and I were tracting on Warner Avenue. There was a little park area, and we stopped there briefly. I was astounded at a giant patch I found there.
In fall 2009, we were teaching a girl named Barbie at the house of some members, the Larsons. Getting there required going past the intersection of Grelle and 18th. One day, Sister Larson's parents, the Hansens, came over, and they found something sharp in the carpet. They looked at it and said, "Oh, it's a little burr!" I was sure it was a goathead that we had tracked in.
During summer 2010, one morning I was walking to French class when I walked by a goathead plant. I was shocked and dismayed, because I didn't think we had them in Utah. I plucked it up and took it to class to show my classmates.
In June 2011, I was helping out at a stake service project along the Provo River Parkway. We were weeding, and I found a little goathead plant. I figured that of all the weeds we pulled, that one was more important to get rid of than any other.
When I would run along Bountiful Boulevard that fall, I would periodically see them. On September 30, 2011, my family took me to El Matador restaurant in Bountiful for my birthday. When Allie got out of the car, she was standing in a goathead patch next to the parking lot. I said, "Don't stand in those plants." She said, "Sorry," but I wasn't mad at her for standing in them; I just didn't want them to stick to her shoes. My mom told her that I hated the plants.
At my cousin Jesse's wedding in June 2012, I noticed there was one goathead vine growing in the vine at the venue. I pulled it up, but I left it there to wither and die.
On June 30 that year, I was walking home from taking a Book of Mormon test when I noticed one growing in the gap between the blocks in the sidewalk. I picked it and took it into my apartment to show my roommate Cameron. Then I think I cut up the seeds, since they were still green and penetrable.
On July 3, I was walking with Susanne and her family to the North Salt Lake fireworks. I saw some on Centennial Drive, so I briefly made an attempt at yanking them up.
On the Fourth of July, I was walking up 900 East with members of my ward to watch fireworks. I saw some, so I started pulling them up, and Michelle asked me what I was doing. I then explained how evil they were. Francisco asked if they were used for any purposes; I said they are used as an aphrodisiac, and Ellie laughed.
In July 2012, I went to the llama festival at the Hare Krishna temple. There were lots of goatheads there. I pulled one up to show my friends, but then I realized it probably wasn't good to have it near the temple, where everyone was barefoot.
In August 2012, my relatives had come over. We went to the house my sister wanted to buy, and on my way back up I pulled some that were growing along the street to show my cousins.
One evening in June 2013, I was running up 900 East, when I discovered some of them growing in a parking strip. I had to stop and pull them up. They were poking in my knees, but mostly because they were as hard as pebbles, not so much because they were sharp. I would pull a few handfuls, then run to Kiwanis park to throw them away, then go back and pick some more. Eventually, it was getting dark, so I stopped, and I took the remaining plants in my hand to throw in the fire at the ward bonfire.
One Saturday, I went on a walk to go pick the rest of them. I took a plastic bag with me so I wouldn't have to carry them in my hands. On my way, I met a pseudo-horse friend named Amberly, and I told her what I was doing. I found one little plant in a sidewalk crack on 900 East. Then I went to the patch I had found earlier, and pulled up all the goathead plants I could see. On my way back, I noticed that there were some by the shaved ice shack across from the Creamery. I stopped there and pulled some up. A toddler girl saw me so she came over and played in the rocks with me. I was pulling some from the parking strip when a woman walked by and said, "Oh, are those those pokey plants?" I kept the bag on my kitchen table until I could burn them.
Shortly after I had picked the plants was the day of the Church broadcast on missionary work. In walking home from that, I passed the place where I had picked the plants, and I was dismayed to see a few more growing. So I stopped and pulled them up, even though I was in Sunday clothes. Later in the summer, I was sad to see a lot more there, but it was no longer June, so I was no longer obligated to pull them up.
One day in September, I was walking home from running when I passed a lot of them on 820 N. They were huge. I pulled one vine that was at least three feet long and dragged it home. I can't remember whether I showed it to my roommate Jordan; I know I at least told him about it, and I threw it in the dumpster.
I have not yet seen any this year. But I want to so I can destroy them.
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