Meet Steve Heller's Cro-Magnum: The body of a 2006 Dodge Magnum, the tail fins of a 1957 DeSoto, the bumpers of a couple of mid-century Cadillacs, and 160 silver bullets welded to the front grille. With its modern body and its collage of parts from different makes and vintages, the Cro-Magnum isn't your standard vintage hot rod.
In a story this week, the Wall Street Journal reports that Heller's eclectic approach to custom car-building is offending a few classic-car preservationists. But that's all right with Heller, who once welded the roof of a '47 Dodge to a cement mixer barrel to make a spaceship. For more of Heller's Chrome Age sculpture and automotive artistry, check out the website of his shop, Fabulous Furniture -- or just drive through Boiceville on Route 28 and look for the yard full of gleaming tailfins and metal dinosaurs.
Happy Wednesday, Catskills. After a late-summer break, the NewsShed is back. So are the signs of the season: asters and goldenrods blooming their hearts out along every roadside, apple trees heavy with fruit, and foliage looking more autumnal with every passing day.
September is Emergency Preparedness Month, as the Times Herald-Record's Heather Yakin notes in a column today. In case you need a news outlet to remind you to be ready for flooding, power outages and general cataclysm around here, consider yourself reminded.
As of September 1, it's ginseng harvest season in the Catskills, until the end of November. For this week's Walton Reporter, Lillian Browne talked to a couple of local ginseng experts, who say the herb grows best on the cooler side of a mountain, and that deer are a bigger threat to the rare plants than human overcollecting.