Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

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: Warm breeze days on Lower Kaubashine The wind makes the warm weather perfect at the beach We have a lot of folks down enjoying the beach John Thompson has found his perfect spot on the pontoon to enjoy the wind and sun Noah got a little tired of the beach and headed to the game room to get his... 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: 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: 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

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: It has been slowly dripping today. It almost seems like it might be spring, but we have been tricked into believing that before Cliff had some visitors today Kathy and Randy stopping into to take pictures of Cliff for their grand daughter I think Cliff was headed into hibernation and was happy for the visit Cliff's comment to Randy... Read more

Excerpt: Is there snow in the Northwoods? Is the pope catholic? Of course we have another storm predicted for the end of the week just to keep us on our toes How is Cliff doing at his post? The lake is solidly white and it is a long haul ahead Cliff looking a little dejected with the weather report. I... Read more

Excerpt: Eagles Nest in the snow 4th coldest April on record. Yep, I would believe it. We got an additional 2 inches of snow last night. Maple Trees have again shut down. One sign of spring was the raccoon's in the bird feeder last night. They have had a rude awakening. Talking with many resort owners worried about opening on... Read more

Excerpt: I took this picture Saturday afternoon when we received the first 3 inches of snow. This is my trail to some of our maple taps across the road. Saturday amongst the snow a few of the trees were still flowing, just enough to keep us cooking. When the real storm showed up on Sunday afternoon they all shut down... Read more

Excerpt: As I type, I can hear the shovel scraping as Troy shovels the front walk yet again. We did not get 11 inches of snow, but about 3. 3..... 11 in April is there really a difference? All this snow has continued to keep the guys inside. My office is getting puttied and varnished. Steve has been on a... Read more

Excerpt: Big Congrats to Aqil and Laurie Kahn who got married this weekend. Laurie and her family have been coming to the resort since her grandfather Wills discovered the resort I believe dating back to the 60's. I babysat for Laurie and her 3 sisters and she is the last one to get married. Congrats to Laurie and Aqil! Last... Read more

Excerpt: In the hope that spring has sprung we have gotten our maple cooking pots out. So far we have collected about 4 gallons of sap. Not quite enough to get the cookers going. The trees the last 3 days have shut back down along with the temps. Wednesday looks like it is the start of warmer temps in the... Read more

Excerpt: Just as I was grumbling about winter never ending while drinking coffee, watching the weather man say 2- 4 inches of snow Friday a flock of birds invaded our feeder. Spring is always fun to see the different birds that stop through. I missed a picture earlier in the morning of 4 grouse stopping in but got the camera... Read more

Excerpt: Words escape me this morning. We are retreating to the woodstove with Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells, 2 DVS's The Hobbit and Life of Pi, and my knitting needles and Troy's Ipad and we may make it through the weekend.... Read more

Excerpt: We spent a very nice weekend away from the resort visiting friends and family before spring work hits. Did I say friends.... Does anyone else have a friend like this? Everyone needs a friend like this but everyone with a friend like this should be careful at all times where they leave their Iphone unprotected or you get to... Read more

Excerpt: One of our guest Gail ordered 13 Christmas Balls last fall. She knew she would not get them by Christmas as my list was filled up for Christmas but I got them done this week. Gail has got balls, lots of balls Dancing Balls, Alaska Balls Red Balls... Blue Balls (I love these with the variegated blue sparkly yarn)... Read more

Excerpt: Too much snow in the woods and Char Schmelzer = shopping trip to Ironwood. Ironwood is 1 hour north of us and has as many strip bars as it does antique stores and a wonderful pasty shop for lunch. What a combination antiques, strippers and pasty's Joe's Pasty shop is not fancy but it is great food. They have... Read more

Excerpt: As of 1pm today spring has sprung, the maple trees started to drip as temps soared to 40 degrees! Yeah last year our maple season was over by mid March and hopefully this year we have a better year collecting. We need temps during the day to mid 40's and below freezing at night to keep the trees flowing... Read more

Excerpt: Craig came back from Arizona for a month to work on a few things.... a few things turned into a few more things... and lets just say everyone will notice something in their cabin fixed or added before they are all done. My Iphone has been busy catching everything going on Craig started out going through all the drapery... Read more