Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: It is a muggy damp spring morning at the resort and you can feel spring in the air. Things are popping out of all the gardens. The garden area at Birchwood has all sorts of things popping through the ground from ferns to wildflowers Lilies of the Valley are just starting to branch out and should be blooming soon... Read more

Excerpt: It was time to get the big white dock in this weekend. This is the first time it has launched with out Craig to over see. Troy and Steve managed to get all in You wondered why there are holes in the dock? While the dock was going in, lots of painting was getting done at the top of... Read more

Excerpt: It was a beautiful afternoon to finally get some docks in the water. This is the first time Troy and Steve have not had Craig around directing the action from the beach. They tried some new techniques to get it in, requiring only 2 lifters and one camera operator. The camera operator objects to leaky wadders and lifting heavy... Read more

Excerpt: Stopped down at Red Pine to see what was going on and could not resist taking a seat for a minute to soak up some sun and the view off the dock The guys have been finishing up the new stairway at Red Pine. We are abandoning the old steep stairway for this new one which is much easier... Read more

Excerpt: Lower Kaubashine ice free this morning. Loons have been spotted, just not with my camera We have a 45 plus inch Muskie that has staked out the shallows of the swimming area as its spawning site. Every time you go down the steps you can spot him cruising through. He was eyeing up floating Cliff the other day as... Read more

Excerpt: Kip Cikowski who guessed May 5th, but today was the day May 6th. The next closest guess was Charlie Cikowski, Kip's relative. Maybe Kip will take Charlie out to lunch with the winnings for the 2 of them to enjoy being one of the few braves souls to make guesses in May Time to pull Cliff out of the... Read more

Excerpt: After loving 70's and even 80 last week that stuff on the ground is back. Atleast we did not get 15 inches like western Wisconsin. It is still hard to look at in May. With temps going back to normal next week everything should melt away fast. For all my fishermen coming next weekend don't be to discouraged by... Read more

Excerpt: I walked down the steps this morning to find Cliff in a different position. He apparently was basking in the 80 degree sun yesterday and could not get back up Cliff either could not get back up or heard the weather forecast of 2 more inches of snow tomorrow and collapsed and gave up Open water by the beach... Read more

Excerpt: A sight I was thinking we would never see. OPEN WATER! This pic was taken on the other side of the lake that goes out first. Very exciting. I am sure the ducks will appear today. I heard my first loon fly overhead yesterday. Not sure where the loon was headed to find enough water for it to land... Read more

Excerpt: What a difference a few days made. These pics were all taken Sunday afternoon at about 65 degrees. We took a couple of days to escape to the south to the Horicon Marsh. We returned to find big changes in the snow and ice conditions What everyone wants to know, how is the lake doing? Lots of melting occurred... Read more

Excerpt: Instead of showing the dusting of snow that came down last night, I have chosen instead to show the change in color on the other side of the lake. Finally it is not looking stark white. Temps are rising to 60 and maybe GASP 70 next week. That will move the ice along very fast. We are looking at... Read more

Excerpt: I hope this is the last time I report snow fall til next November. We got another inch of it... More pretty icicles to take pics of They got over a foot of snow just north of us, so we have something to be thankful for. It could have been worse I had to yell down at Cliff that... Read more