Tumbleweeds rolls off into the sunset.

I couldn't let Tumbleweeds -- Tom Ryan's great western comic strip which began in 1965 and ended this weekend when Tom decided to retire -- roll off into the sunset without saying a word or two about it. "Tumbleweeds" was the favorite comic strip of me and my buddy Tommy Garriss in sixth and seventh grade. We used to laugh out loud on a regular basis at Hildegarde Hamhocker's efforts to woo and win the title character, we loved the undertaker Claude Clay and Judge Horatio Curmudgeon Frump, Snookie and Snake-Eye McFoul. But our favorite was the ever-optimistic Limpid Lizard, who never gave up on winning the hand of Indian maiden Little Pigeon.

I haven't read the strip on a regular basis the last few years, but I did send off for an autographed copy of "The Best of Tumbleweeds" awhile back and I suggest you do the same at

http://www.tumbleweeds.com/index.html. Good stuff. Thanks, Tom.