Speculating in the Futures Market

While driving to work Thursday morning it occurred to me that the county might be putting on their seasonal load restrictions for secondary roads soon, so I placed a call with my renewable fuels broker and he delivered  eleven cords of energy futures Saturday morning.  The load restrictions will be going on noon Monday, so exercising my futures option turned out to be a wise decision.

That same day we met with our stock brokers, John and Wendy to accept delivery of three shares of live stock with a futures option of a fourth.  We had lost a third of our ovine portfolio two weeks earlier in a bear (i.e. wolf) market, and wanted to replenish it.

The transaction consisted of a bred ewe, Lolly, that is expected to throw twins, possibly triplets, in April. I paid with a futures check, redeemable on my next payday.

Lolly pulls better than most sled dogs.

Gunnar welcomed the new flock addition with enthusiasm.

And, charming gentleman that he is, pursued her...

Round ...

and round...

and round and round and round.  Wendy had cautioned us that Lolly was a little frowzy looking because she had missed her normal fall shearing,  but she was a "10" in Gunnar's eyes.