Black's Cliff Blog

Excerpt: Time for a little dock work with the temps soaring to a balmy 60 degrees You know it is not time to pull out the bathing suits when Troy is wearing a winter hat along with the wadders Olja enjoying the show from the sidelines. This picture is why I take pictures and do not have wadders on Who... Read more

Excerpt: Railroad ties where the project of the day After 40 years they do have to be replaced. The stairwell at Red Pine got some much needed TLC One more fix it item off the list. Problem is more has been added Photo credits go to Troy for agreeing to take the camera down to Red Pine andn more importantly... Read more

Excerpt: Once in awhile the inspiration for pictures and writing is not there or following up the loon pics from last week just can't be matched. It was beautiful painting weather on Friday in the 80's and since then the rain has hit. The green boats have made it off the stack and painting has started John Deere Green paint..... Read more

Excerpt: After 3 days of snow, I was going to make this the only picture on the blog today. As I was taking this picture I heard the sound of a loon and dashed down to the lake for the pics below Just when we needed a reminder that it was spring the loons came back. So far we have... Read more

Excerpt: I looked out off the hill this morning and was happy to see both loons fishing in the middle of the lake It was a hard shot to get with full sun and loons in the middle of the lake. This was the best I could get. They were yodeling and fishing on the sunken island... Read more

Excerpt: Would you believe me if I told you a giant ape had been captured and brought to the resort. He escaped and climbed to the top of the tallest tree..... In sandbox land that and much more is going on. It is nice to see the ice and snow leave and summer fun start.. even if it comes with... Read more

Excerpt: ...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CDT TUESDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREEN BAY HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CDT TUESDAY. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. EVEN... Read more

Excerpt: I stopped to take this picture of the sunset on ice. Troy says "oh you stopped to take a picture of the eagle" Good thing he has good eyes or you would only have the sunset to appreciate Eagle surveying the newly open water Enjoy and thank Troy... Read more

Excerpt: We caught this Pine Sisken below our bird feeders. It was wandering around and not flying off. We knew something was up. Over the past week we have found 4 dead birds around our feeders. We took this bird for a ride up to the Northwoods Wildlife Hospital. It died the next morning. I was told they have seen... Read more

Excerpt: First thing on our agenda today was to haul a very water logged Cliff out of Lower Kaubashine. He definitely put on some water weight Good comercial for the power of life preservers. Note to self, untie Cliff from the metal chair before attempting to pull him out of lake, it reduces the weight by 1/2 Cliff drying out... Read more

Excerpt: Jim Kotowicz pictured last fall with his wife Nancy and Poe. Jim and Nancy spent a week at the resort watching the place this spring. Jim spent some time down at the lake having a few beers with Cliff just like our 2008 winner Fritz. Does anyone see a pattern here? Congrats to Jim see ya at Hilltop for... Read more

Excerpt: The edge of the ice is creaping closer and closer to Cliff. Will he stay afloat til the end of the week? Sink... Sink... Sinking away....... Favorite view of the lake turning back into flowing water Kaubashine and Shamrock's dock showing the total damage done by the dropping birch tree this winter Chipmunks are out in force raiding our... Read more

Excerpt: The power of ice is still keeping Cliff afloat. How long til his head is touching the ice... My bet is end of next week sometime he is going down. I heard yesterday Lake Minocqua still had 12 inches of ice and still had icefishermen taking their chances This is a sight we do not like to see. The... Read more

Excerpt: Cliff is taking a definite lean to the left. Looks like the ice is swallowing him up. Yesterday was definitily a day of melting and it looks like temps will be in the high 40's or 50's for the next week. How soon will he go down..... stay tuned Even with the shoreline like this, I saw ice fishermen... Read more

Excerpt: Cliff put out the call that he wanted to have Ellen call. Well Ellen did better than that she arrived Ellen was a little hesitant to head out on the ice to meet Cliff Nancy (Nanook) and Ellen (Snakelips) staying on the raft. What are those nicknames for? That would be there Geo Caching names. They spent the weekend... Read more

Excerpt: I caught this deer trying to decide if a 3 1/2 legged 9 year golden retreiver was really a threat that required it to get up from its sunny spot on the hill. After a stare down between Poe thinking he was a puppy and this deer, it did finally get up and flash its white tail at Poe... Read more

Excerpt: Take the picture yesterday copy it and insert it. Cliff is not sinking, the lake is solid, there is snow on the ground. I refuse to take one more picture of that. I do hear that after the snow on Sunday it is getting warmer next week. It is time to rake and paint. Snow and cold go away This... Read more

Excerpt: The end of winter is marked with the April Fools run at Midnight a 5k race that starts at midnight at the high school, run along hwy 51 back to down town Minocqua to the Bearskin Trail, over the tressel to Doctor Pink Dr, down old 70 finishing once again at the high school. All of this done with... Read more

Excerpt: Cold weekend and not much melting. Cliff even had some visitors who came to take some pictures with him at his lonely post. Poe was considering going out for a visit but did not move off the shoreline Lake shoreline solid... Read more