Siding n
ow on three sides and on the ceiling of the deck
Ryan went to pick up the metal roofing today. Hope to start doing the roof tomorrow afternoon
Another day……a little more progress
Author: jefflsmith
Individual investor with focus on growth and income utilizing covered call writing primarily with health care companies.
Another milestone…..siding is going on
We placed “briding” in the walls to nail the siding to
First piece of siding and the first wall almost complete. We are doing vertical “board and batten”. The wood is very green so the batten should help with the cracks from shrinking as the wood drys.
Ryan is headed to Kamloops this morning to pick up the metal roofing……so tomorrow we should be working on the roof.
Yesterday was a tough day in the market…..covered calls helped offset some of the losses but it wasn’t a great day. Hopefully today will be a better day. Looking better at the opening. Rolled down a couple of positions in Amazon and INMD.
This picture says it all…..
We managed to make Ryan happy today when we got the cedar logs off his property in place holding up the front of the shed. I think this picture made the entire trip out west worth it!
The “chain saw carpenter” went to work and did an amazing job of cutting the logs to length (square cuts) and then cutting the notch for the top plate and header to fit. Nice job leaving the front of the log intact which is what you see when you look at the front of the shed.
The “Shed” is moving along!
When we ran out of wood (and something broke at the sawmill and we couldn’t get more 2 x 4’s) we switched to making our trusses. The first one definitely took a few hours to try, modify, try, modify, try……
Once we had our pattern the pace picked up. We decided to frame one of the walls in 2 x 6’s since we couldn’t get any of the 2 x 4’s. This allowed us to get the four walls framed and standing. The front shed wall has a five foot doorway so Ryan can open them wide and let some light in for working. The big doorway in the back is for parking a “yet to own” four wheeler. Plans are for that door to be a ramp that folds down. We put up the first and last trusses then filled in between. 9 of the 12 trusses are now in place with plans to finish the other three tomorrow.
Weather continues to suck as it rained yesterday afternoon, all night and again today until after lunch. Lots of stars in the sky tonight so it should be clear “building” tomorrow.
The top plates that are protruding out the front still need supports. The plan is to use two cedar logs we cut and peeled. It should be fun incorporating actual logs into the build….definitely a Ryan request. If he could have the whole structure would be out of logs sourced from his property…..but we don’t have the knowledge or the time. Maybe the next structure will be out of logs!
Good week for IB account despite the distraction of building a shed
For the past week I have been “holed up” in Albert Canyon on a remote piece of property in the Rocky mountains. Maybe the distraction of building a shed, different time zone and slow wifi have limited my “reactionary trading” resulting in the IB account hitting a record high on Friday. For the week our profits were a little over $6,000.
My recent posts about building the shed have generated more than 10x the site visits! Guess that is much more exciting than updating about stocks and options.
As of the close on Friday the account has 14 open positions that are in the table below. We had a few short options expire on Friday. New calls on the expired positions will be written next week. We are profitable on 12 of the 14 stocks. (86%). Our option strategies have not fared as well with 6 being positive contributors (43%). The result on the options is not surprising given the recent strong performance by a few of the stocks. Overall we are profitable in 86% of the positions. I believe SDC will become positive in the near future. NIO remains a puzzle….not sure what the best strategy is…might be to exit the position.
Ongoing Shed Construction in Albert Canyon
Ryan and Cameron lead the initiative to get the floor joists in…..and we reached another milestone with the installation of all the joists. Next the plywood floor was nailed in place (Ryan wasn’t very keen on the $80 per sheet price tag on the plywood). The shed will be 10 x 12….with a 4 ‘ covered deck on front. We installed the floor boards for the deck.
The wood we are using is all rough cut timbers (where a 2 x 4 is actually 2 x 4) from a local mill in Revelstoke. The boards it the pink/orange tint are BC fir. We are paying about $7 for a 2 x 6 x 12 board of BC fir . I can’t imagine what that would cost back in Ontario where Home Depot is charging $8 for a poplar or spruce 2 x 4 (not really….1 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 8). The only downside is the weight of the boards. They will not be blowing away!
Very wet day today in Albert Canyon. We worked in the rain till lunch to make some progress as the “clock to return home” is moving along. More pictures to follow….but all four walls are up and 9 of 12 trusses are in place….so we made some good progress.
Building the shed foundation
We built the “foundation” on log posts 24 inches high. Albert Canyon can receive up to 40′ of snow so any elevation gain off the ground is advantageous in the winter. Each post hole was dug to the frostline and cement was poured around the logs. We are hoping the cement will preserve the posts and extend their life. Shed platform is 12 x 14. Actual shed will be 12 x 10 with a 4′ deck on the front.
Ryan demonstrating his chainsaw carpentry. I helped him install a few of the posts before taking a break for a wedding back east. On the return the joists were all done…..and amazingly square…within 1/4 inch….despite the challenge of cutting with the chainsaw. I think it might be his favorite new toy. Ryan’s brother, Cameron made a surprise visit from Bend, Oregon to help out…..and had his doubts about the approach…but it all worked out.
We finally picked up some new lumber this afternoon so tomorrow we get back to building the 6 remaining trusses. Sawmill did not have any 2 x 4’s so we can’t finish the two side walls yet. Hoping for better weather tomorrow…enough of the rain!
Trip to Albert Canyon, BC
Currently sitting in my little RV at Canyon Hot Springs Campground in Albert Canyon.
Where is Albert Canyon? About 20 minutes west of Rodgers National Park and 30 minutes east of Revelstoke, BC.
What is Albert Canyon? At one time Albert Canyon was a busy little place. It was a small CP rail community. At the peak it had 20 to 30 families, a sawmill, mill shop, general store and a school house. The community was home to the “diesel pushers” that helped push the trains up through a pass. It is a scenic destination where the passenger trains would stop so the passengers could get out and see “Albert Canyon”. Today the “community” consists of a couple of full time residents and another five or six seasonal residents.
Why a trip to Albert Canyon? Last summer when Ryan (oldest son) returned from his spring/summer work in McCarthy Alaska) he arranged to spend his quarantine on a property in Albert Canyon. He was interested in a property that was for sale….so Kim and I drove out to check things out with him. Turned out he didn’t fall in love with the original property but he reached out to another owner and negotiated the purchase of just under 18 acres on the south side of the Trans Canada highway. The property is just acreage. It has never been built on. Guessing it has been 100 years since it was last logged. It has some giant cedars (10 feet around) and all kinds of very large trees. Immediately behind the property is crown land that stretches for miles….the entrance to a playground for Ryan and his back country activities. Albert Canyon is also one of the launch places for Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter skiing …..and where Ryan will be working this winter.
The trip out here was to help construct a shed. The shed was determined to be a priority as he lives either in his van or in a small travel trailer. This was his first “acquisition” and it was going to be followed by a lot of smaller additions that would not do well in his van or trailer (chainsaw, shovel, rake, pick ax, etc) so he thought a shed made sense so he would have somewhere to store his new “toys”.
Ryan was receptive to some help as the help was going to supply many of the tools needed to build the shed. So Kim and I headed west. From our cottage on Sausage Lake it takes five long days of driving (47 hours at regular speeds and we are in an RV). Kim visited with Ryan for a few days then we drove to Kelowna and flew back to Hamilton to attend a wedding in St. Catherines. After the wedding Kim drove back to the cottage and returned to Kelowna and drove back to Albert Canyon. Plans are to help Ryan until late September when I will drive back home to Andover MA for a couple of weddings.
The shed construction is “progressing”. A bit slow but we are making progress. Lots of comments to add on the construction in the next post…..and it has been interesting.
YTD Performance of IB Account
Little background before discussing the account. I am helping my oldest son, Ryan, build a shed on his newly acquired property in Albert Canyon, British Columbia.. The property is about 15 miles west of Rodgers Pass National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It receives up to 40 feet of snow a year….a good thing if you love back country ski touring. Building a shed isn’t that tough an assignment…..unless you decide to do it in the Rocky Mountains on a property with no hydro or water. Battery powered skil saw works okay…..but the charge doesn’t very long when you are cutting “rough lumber” (when a 2 x 6 is really 2 inches by 6 inches). The wood is sourced from a local sawmill in Revelstoke. Some of it Douglas fir…..not a lot of fun to nail as the 3 1/2 nails bend about 50% of the time. Cutting the wood with hand saws….another whole experience. Great for conditioning…not so great for productivity.
YTD the IB Account is generating a return of $76,711 or 22.3%. The performance is similar to what the SPY has generated. No complaints….but it would be nice to outperform the SPY as it would be much easier to just buy the index and hold it!
NIO remains a hard one to figure out. It looks like a good idea…until I establish a position. CFLT has been a nice recent add.
Patience paying off on ABT Covered Call/Put Strategy
On April 1 we purchased 100 shares of ABT and established a covered call. At the time we were following the bullish comments of CEO during the Q1 earnings call. Initially the stock increased in price (blue line is stock profit/loss). Unfortunately the optimistic comments from the CEO were premature and the company revised earnings and revenue projections causing the stock to drop. Following the drop we added short puts to the strategy as I didn’t mind buying more shares of the company if we got assigned. Profitability of the puts is represented by the orange line. The stock has slowly climbed back. The positions are currently generating a profit of $1,237 between the stock, options and dividends.
Current option position – naked on 3 short puts (Sep 17 $123).
We have also collected $90 in dividends. Overall return is 11.2% or 32% annualized.
