~ Sean Allen ~ International Financing Solutions

Hello folks,

One of the interesting aspects of living in Southwest Florida is the variety of custom mail boxes you can see. As you drive through various neighborhoods or down some of the main drags, you will see a whole assortment of mailboxes. Unfortunately, the neighborhood we live in does not allow for this variety. The local Homeowners Association dictates to us how our mailbox will look. Although this is a "uniformed" look, it is quite boring.

Here are a few of the Mail boxes which I have seen down here......

Hope you like the photos, stay tuned for "Going Postal #2"

Sincerely,
Sean Allen
President
International Financing Solutions
a division of Sean Allen, Inc.
Skype: sean.allen5
www.InternationalFinancingSolutions.com

Specializing in Development Financing Around the World

***The best way to reach me is via e-mail***

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Hello Folks,

Well "Fall" has arrived and it is starting to show in Southwest Florida. I know most people do not believe that we have "seasonal" weather down here, but actually we do. The temperatures are starting to cool off a little bit. It might still be in the high 80s to low 90s, but the difference is the cool breezes which we are starting to feel.

It is quite relaxing to be sitting on the lania and having a cool breeze blowing across your body.... almost putting you into a tranquilized state.

We went for a walk on the beach Sunday during low tide. The Gulf of Mexico had those Aqua Blue-Green colors to it. The beach was crowded down by the public parking area, but not near as crowded as it gets in the winter months. "Fall" is my favorite time in Florida...... The weather is cooling off and the volume of tourist are at their lowest point of the year.

Here is a nice picture looking out into the Gulf.....

Below is a picture of a live "Common Fig" shell. This is the first one I've ever found alive in 15+ years of shelling. These animals have an extremely fragile shell, but their body is quite dense because this little guy was pretty heavy for his size. The first photo is the top of his shell and the next one is the bottom, where you can actually see the animal.

This last picture is of some of the sand dollars Pilar had picked up and of a Hermit Crab which made a home from an empty Horse Conch shell. This was a fairly large Hermit Crab.

Hope you have enjoyed the pictures....

Sincerely,
Sean Allen
President
International Financing Solutions
a division of Sean Allen, Inc.
Skype: sean.allen5
www.InternationalFinancingSolutions.com

Specializing in Development Financing Around the World

***The best way to reach me is via e-mail***

Get personalized, professional email like this.

The State of Florida is considered the Lightning Capital of the World. More people are killed in Florida by lightning than anywhere else on the earth. We have even had lightning deaths to people who were physically in an area with no weather activity. No immediate storms, no clouds and no rain and a bolt of lightning strike them.

The two worst places to be during a lightning storm are on the beach or on a golf course. Just a couple years ago, two young individuals where out Parasailing off of Marco Island. It was a "Bluebird" sky type of day and out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck the two parasailing and killed them instantly.

Although being struck by lighting in this manor can be quite frightening, when I say I was "Struck by lightning", what I am referring to is all the Lightning Whelks which I've been finding on the beaches.

With the recent passing of Gustav and Ike, the beaches have been littered with shells and an unusually high number of Lightning Whelks. The Lightning Whelk is a beautiful shell that comes in a variety of coloration. From very light, almost yellow, color to very dark..... As you can see in the pictures. The center top center shell is actually an albino Lightning Whelk with no color at all (very rare). The longest in this picture is 3" long and the smalest is 1" long.

Not only do we find these shells empty (dead) on the beaches but we also find them alive out in the gulf waters. The Whelk likes to look for food along the surf lines and will regularly burry themselves in the sand with the very tip of their shell sticking out. In most areas of Florida it is illegal to keep live shells, so we only collect the empty ones.

The Lightning Whelk will grow up to 5 inches in length but they have cousins who will get much larger. They are also one of the few shells which open up on the left, but occasionally you can find one which has opened on the right. They get their name from the vertical coloration patters they have on their outer shells, resembling a bolt of lightning.

The two pictures below are of a live Whelk. The one on the left is him still in the water and the right is him with his door shut.

Sincerely,
Sean Allen
President
International Financing Solutions
a division of Sean Allen, Inc.
Skype: sean.allen5
www.InternationalFinancingSolutions.com

Specializing in Development Financing Around the World

***The best way to reach me is via e-mail***

Get personalized, professional email like this.

Hello folks,

I bet you never knew that you can find the alphabet while walking the beach. Well, in Southwest Florida and other beaches in the state, it is possible.

The Alphabet Cone is one of the rarer shells which we find on our beaches. As live animals, they are typically found further out in the gulf and very rarely found alive up on our beaches.

The fact that we do not find live specimens on our beaches is a good thing. The reason being is that these shells are very poisonous. The way they eat their pray is to rapidly shoot a harpoon type of tooth into their future meal and inject them with poison. By doing this they are able to disable their prey and then feed upon them.

The Alphabet Cone ranges in size from very small to roughly 3.5 inches long. The larger shells are very rare to find, but smaller ones can be found on occasion.

They get their name by the color pattern they have on the exterior of their shell. Much
like an alphabet being wrapped around the shell.

In the pictures above, the shell on the right is the diameter of a golf ball and
about 2.5 inches tall.

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Hello Folks,

Have you ever looked into a Shark's eye before?

Me neither and if I do, I sure hope there is a thick layer of glass between us. What I'm actually talking about in the title "Shark's Eye" is one of the common shells we find on the beaches here in Lee & Collier Counties of Florida.

The Shark's Eye is a round shell which starts out very small and can be as large (width) as a baseball.

In the picture to the left are two Shark's Eyes. The larger one is about the size of a golf ball and the smaller one the size of a nickle. I found these two earlier this week while walking the beach ..... along with many others.

An interesting thing about these shells is how they eat. Like most Uni-valve shells, they feed on other shells. Most will feed on dead shells or fish that lay on the oceans floor, but they prefer live prey.

What is interesting about this is that they will grab ahold of another "live" shell and then proceed to drill a hole in the victims shell. The Shark's Eye has one tooth that works like a drill bit and grinds a nice perfectly round hole.

As you can see in the picture to the right are three shells which fell victim to a Shark's Eye. These mollusk are not very picky on who they eat either, they will even cannibalize one of their own.

What I don't know and am curious to find out is ..."How long does it take them to drill the hole?"

HHHmmm, Talk about having the life sucked out of ya !!!!!

On a different subject, below is a picture of an Albino Lightning Welk I found yesterday. This shell is perfectly white ... Inside & out. This is only the second one I have found like this in 15+ years of shelling. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it person it is awesome.

Many people will say that the sun just bleached the color out, which is not true. On such a shell which the sun has bleached, the outer cover of the shell is usually very chalky, rough and would be a dull white color. This one that I found is very smooth and quite bright.

Below on the left side of the picture are three examples of the coloration the above shell should have. The above shell is about 4.5 inches long. The ones below are about 2 inches each, but still a good example.

Sincerely,
Sean Allen
President
International Financing Solutions
a division of Sean Allen, Inc.
Skype: sean.allen5
www.InternationalFinancingSolutions.com

Specializing in Development Financing Around the World

***The best way to reach me is via e-mail***

Get personalized, professional email like this.