Strange Plants in my Yard

Yesterday I spent the evening out in the yard. I started out cleaning out from under my sandplum thicket. I neglected getting this properly done last year and now I'm paying for it. I've got several trees coming up in it and they have GOT to GO. My thicket is over the area that my sewer line runs through and the plum bush roots shouldn't be that much of a problem, trees certainly would be. At one point I got a little sidetracked when I went to get the push mower. I decided to mow and area on the way to the thicket. Anyway, I came across the now up-rooted plant below. Anyone have a clue as to what it is? (Edit: It looks like I might have pulled up a young Russian Thistle, more commonly know as Tumbleweed. I had never seen them at this stage. See end of post.)
It has no leaves and, at this point, no buds or flowers. Just long, smooth, rounded, branches. The plant itself was practically round the way that it stood.
I love the one below, reminds me of something from Dr. Seuss. This is the seed head from one of the volunteer chive plants that is growing in my yard.
This one just happens to be growing in my sandplum thicket so it's safe from the mower.
They look like little aliens peeking out from the bushes, don't they?
I only got half way through with the thicket cleaning and then it got dark and I was hot and sore. Not sure if I'll get to the rest of it today or not.

Edit: A little confusion on my part. This picture looks to be the same as what I pictured above. It is labeled on this page as one of the Russian Thistle photos. Pretty much all the Russian Thistle pictures I find via Google look like this, all spiky looking. So is the first picture and what I pictured an immature plant of the same variety. Or is this something else? I KNOW Tumbleweed once it's all grown and scaring the heck out of drivers on the highway. I've seen them as big as the little import autos. I just never lived out in the country where they grew to know their different stages. Matter of fact, my ancestors were probably responsible for bringing a good portion of them over here with their Russian Turkey Red Winter Wheat. Got any Tumbleweed stories? I've heard of families that used them as Christmas trees because that's all there were.