I picked the right weekend to effectively be out of civilization. Friday at 5 a.m. ET, six of us headed north to a small island in Canada on the St. Lawrence River, where friends have a couple of cottages that have been in their family more than 100 years. We spent three days tearing off an old roof and putting on a new one. Exhausting work, but equally satisfying. These were some of the same dear friends who were instrumental in putting our cottage back together after it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.
While Brexit (already the most overused term of 2016) was "wrecking it" (a headline I thought of on the way home, only to see that Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr beat me to the punch), I was learning roofing skills. I knew the markets were likely having a bad day (bad in the U.S., terrible in Europe), but it was nice not to have to hear about it constantly. There was wireless access, but the demands of our task at hand dictated that there was no time to stew over the latest market "crisis," if that is indeed what this is.
Crises come and go, and this one is all about shock value. Few in the media thought this was a distinct possibility. Perhaps part of that was simply wishful thinking. Markets don't like surprises or uncertainty, and Friday they received a huge dose of both.
But my uncertainty, and that of my buddies on Friday, was not Brexit, but rather navigating a flimsy, buckled rooftop that was loaded with wasps. It was a long way down, and the boulders below were not of the soft variety. Thankfully, we survived with no major injuries; just some sore muscles, creaking bones and a few bruises. The markets will ultimately navigate Brexit, too. There will be more surprises along the way, some additional volatility and perhaps more pain. It will not be over as quickly as our roofing escapade, but markets and investors will adjust.
There was at least some good news on Friday in value land; headphone distributor Skullcandy (SKUL), a "double net," received a buyout offer from Incipio that lifted shares 23% on a day when most stocks were in the red. I would not have even seen that had it not been for an e-mail from fellow Real Money contributor Tim Melvin that I fortuitously noticed during one of our water breaks.
Today, the company announced a second, higher buyout offer from Mill Road Capital for $6.05 per share. It looks like we may be on the cusp of a bidding war among Icipio, Mill Road and SKUL founder Rick Alden, who indicated that he may want to take the company private.
The weekend was not complete until two things happened: We finished the roof, and I bowed to the pressure of my buddies to try one of the local snacks that some of them raved about, cheese curd. It was only the name that sounded terrible ("curd"); the product itself was tasty.
But now there are two more words I wouldn't mind never hearing again; Brexit and curd.
