I am now only 75% long, scaling out of most everything in rough proportion.

Sorry, I told you I could change my mind abruptly.

What sealed me on raising cash, oddly enough, was this bounce into the close (best viewed from the NASDAQ). Pardon me but I am quite sick of getting axed 2% every other week, with these little polite “hope bounces” in between. If we sell off like this, it had better have the decency to stick for an evening.

I am not going to just sit by and watch such a great start to a year get diced up from a slow-boil like this.

Positions are AEC, MAA, CCJ, BAS, HCLP, NRP, UEC, silver and cash. Year to date gains stand around 5%, right where I swore I would do something.

I added more HCLP for $39.55. Do I need to explain myself?

Cash stands at 13%.

HCLP and BAS have surpassed CCJ as my largest position. Those three now account for just under 60% of my book.

Rebalancing will probably come soon, but not right now. HCLP is going to punch through brick walls first.

I upped my stake in BAS for a couple percent into the selloff, for $26.52. It’s probably early and I expect we’ll see a further dip, but what does it matter, in the grand scheme of things?

What else are you going to buy? Some of those fancy tech stocks?

Just start loading up on natural gas plays now and save yourself the heartache and pretending like you did, later.

Good morning and I hope I find you well.

The 9th Floor’s estate is in tatters from the storm, with many trees down and trash littering the landscape. The weekend was warm and pleasant save for Saturday, which brought wanton destruction to many in this good state.

I bought back MAA this morning for $67.74 a share. Cash is down to 10% of account value.

I owned MAA as a legacy position from CLP being bought out last year. I sold the shares back when I was raising cash heavily towards the beginning of 2014. I always communicated a desire to buy back in and if you would like to read up on the position and reasons for owning, a quick search of my archives under MAA or CLP should get you plenty well started.

I added to HCLP for $39.42.

I also nibbled on some more UEC for $1.13 (WARNING: if you are following at home, this position is to be kept LIGHT. I’m at less than 3% of assets, with a 1.5% unrealized loss on this. It’s down almost 40% YTD – my worst call this year so far – but precisely because I’ve been keeping it small, that’s not a problem. This is a true investment, not a trade. Big cash flow losses are expected in early years of a young company, but bad luck could easily snuff out any holders to $0.00)

My cash position is still right around 20%, thanks to capital losses. *hurray*

I increased my HCLP position for $38.00. The partnership has been in a sustained uptrend and every encounter with the standard moving averages have resulted in strong resurgences.

I added to BAS for $24.03.

I love both HCLP and BAS here, more than I did before the Ukraine. The threat of Russian aggression is going to keep natural gas prices bid. You can also bet now is the time when EU members start looking to establish long term arrangements to wean off the Russian gas pipelines. Where else is big enough to supply that demand, besides the USA?

US drilling activity is going to be well supported going forward, and that means profit boon for BAS and HCLP (as if they weren’t about to rake it in anyway).

I also added to UEC, because…why the hell not? Just a couple more percent.

Cash stands at 25%. Positioning: AEC, CCJ, BAS, HCLP, NRP, UEC, physical silver, PGJ puts, TSLA puts.