Dear Folks,
        My daughter, Sandy, tells me the Orlando Shell Show was great!  I am
sorry I missed it.  I want to personally thank everyone who helped Sandy take
my place as a dealer at the show.  This was her first time as a show dealer
and she said she had a lot of welcomed help and had a great time doing the
show.  Thanks!
        Now from the "Land of Georges".  We have had a number of individuals
call to see how we faired with the hurricane, many of them long time customer
friends...shell folks are great!  As far as I know the Schellings faired well,
but I have not been able to drive over to the shop for an on site inspection
as the officals are still advising to stay off the roads.  At this time, we
are still experiencing heavy rain fall and winds up to 25-30 knots.  By the
way, Emilo, if you honestly feel "weather meteorologists ...suck wind" maybe
you would like to come up and clean up some of the damage we suffered up
here...we were over 100 miles east of where the eye came ashore and we have
lost bridges, several roads have been washed out, the road from Fort Walton
and Destin is currently underwater, we have had over 18 inches of rain in the
last 24 hours, had roofs blow off, etc...but of course these weather
meteorologists tend to exaggerate!  Pensacola has taken a heavy hit and it is
still taking a hit at this time.  Of course Mobile has really been hit bad...I
doubt most of you get to see as much of the local videos as we do up here...if
you have ever been to the "Mobile  Battleship Park", then you will appreciate
it when I tell you their submarine was almost underwater for the first time
since it was in worldwar II!  Those of you who are familar with Pensacola will
appreciate the fact that the water was washing over the "fishing pier" [ex-
bridge] next to the 3-mile bridge!  Pensacola has taken over 30 inches of rain
in the last 24 hours and I have heard that it was over 40 inches!  I can
assure you that the weather meteorologists did not exaggerate abit about the
potentional dangers of this storm!   We had alot of locals who wish they had
paid more attention to the forecasts...but after all how much damage can be
done by a storm over a hundred miles away!  We keep getting new reports of
people having to be removed from their homes by boat in areas that have never
flooded before and they tell us that we can expect rain for another two days!
I feel very lucky that my home and business is high and dry.  I  will even be
able to drive to work tomorrow, but if I wanted to go east on the same road,
it is washed about about 2-3 miles east of us!  Anyway, I was able to get my
October list into the mails...I will say that it was a little "hairy" doing
so, as at times  I had trouble seeing the road on the way to the postoffice;
but not sleet, hail or a hurricane will stop the delivery of a new shell
offering!
         Sincerely,
          Ed [Schelling]
           Worldwide Specimen Shells
             Fort Walton Beach, FL