Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: You could feel the warmth coming from the sun today. Melting is definitely taking place. The canoe is starting to peek out of its winter cave Cliff at his post this morning. Remember to get your guesses in by the 20th as to when he will sink Feeling the warmth Still just a piece of metal sticking up through... Read more

Excerpt: I have spotted some warmer weather for a couple of days Sunday and Monday. It is time to tap some trees. This is the latest we have ever held off to tap trees. It has simply been to cold to justify plowing through waist deep snow to tap some trees. The trees will not run until the temps go... Read more

Excerpt: We have delayed starting Ice Out 2014 for a week due to the just plain cold temps. It did not seem fair to drag Cliff out of the basement at - 20. Cliff was more than happy to hang in the basement another week. But the time has come. Time to head to the lake for the big plunge... Read more

Excerpt: I had these pictures shared with me by Taylor Nyarangi. Taylor and her friends drove all the way from Milwaukee last weekend to see the Ice Caves along Lake Superior. I know I have shared a few groups of these pictures, but they are all so amazing. The ice caves are still open and should be good to see... Read more

Excerpt: I found this little treasure on Ebay last week. This post card is one of the oldest I have found from my grandparents. From the post mark was mailed in 1947. They bought the resort in 1946 so I believe this is one of the first postcards of Black's Cliff. We did not have it in our archives. Someone... Read more

Excerpt: With all the snow we have received it is time to shovel a few more roofs. Eagles Nest was on the list today. The first challenge was to trudge through waist deep snow to get to the cabin. We do not keep it plowed out in the winter so it was a slow trudge through the snow with shovels... Read more

Excerpt: Plowing out after the big snow we got the truck stuck. How to get the truck out of a snowbank? Grab the handy dandy come a long (spelling is for you Paul). Even an F 250 has trouble at times. The propane truck was in the driveway. We could wait no longer for a fill. Propane prices are still... Read more

Excerpt: Yep we got more snow... We felt buried before the snow came, now there is no question there is a lot of snow out there This is the bird bath I pictured the other day. It is finally completely buried Here is Ted's picture. Sorry Ted I am still not trudging through the snow to find the bear. I... Read more

Excerpt: I wandered down to the lake imagining 6 - 12 more inches of snow..... Troy has nicely kept the beach steps clear of snow and getting down to the lake the thought of going off his shoveled paths into feet of snow was not happening. Even for a nice picture of fog on the lake. These pics were all... Read more

Excerpt: We hosted the Lawrence X Country ski team this weekend. It was a weekend full of food, skiing, saunas and lots of laughs with this group. My son Jake and his girlfriend Michelle are part of the group and they shared their amazing weekend in pictures. Thanks to them for sharing This is the reason they ventured to the... Read more

Excerpt: Does anything really change.... This picture is from the 50's... but it could have been taken this last summer as well This has always been one of my favorite pics I took a few years ago. People have changed but the fun and memories remain the same Nope it does not change much just the faces and the swim... Read more

Excerpt: Our summer pic from yester year... This boat is still out in our shed waiting for someone bored to do something with it. One of the spring tasks we no longer do is tar the old wood boats. Craig and Dave would do this every spring to the fleet. Thankfully steel and fiberglass boats do not need this. I... Read more

Excerpt: I am hoping this is the final time I take a picture at -20 degrees. Temps look to be warming into 20's and gasp.... I see a 31 in the forecast as well I I sure hope so, so we can go back to doing one of this and.... Some of that........ Read more

Excerpt: When you are 14 and you want to earn some money for something and you live at a resort there is always something to do. Grant is our chief kindling splitter and the pile was just about empty as was his wallet Such technique Learned over generations Another pile that is empty is our wood pile next to the... Read more

Excerpt: I pictured Charles and his ball dilemma the other day on the blog. Charles (aka Charlie or Chuck depending on his mood) also got to go ice fishing this weekend. I have never seen a dog with a coat as short as Charles that enjoys the cold like he does. Then again gives him a reason to sit by... Read more

Excerpt: As it is cold out and I have not been out taking pics and someone this weekend did not send me their ice fishing pics (Murry) I grabbed a pic that was sent in by Dan Christian. Dan found this oldie but goodie in his files this winter. I thought folks might recognize a few of these hooligans from... Read more

Excerpt: Before we get to Charlie's dilemma I thought I would show how deep the snow has gotten. The birdbath shows how deep it is if you step in fresh snow. It really is time for snow shoes This picture is for Ted Tempel. Under the snow somewhere is the front yard bear. His eye is just sticking out This... Read more

Excerpt: I came around the corner to this scene with Steve up a ladder. Me: "What are you doing up there" Steve "Dad told me to do this a few years ago when snow was on the roof so the branch would bounce off the roof and not cause damage" Me: "And you thought today was the correct day for... Read more

Excerpt: If there is anyone in America right now that does not have snow outside their window this is for you..... but I think those people are only in Miami today and maybe the west coast Our greeter bear getting slowly buried. This is snow depth we usually see mid February just before everything starts to melt away at the... Read more

Excerpt: My husband comes in the office as I am doing paper work and asks me if I want to come take pictures of them taking down a tree that is very close to Red Pine. My eyes light up at the prospect of entertaining pictures of trees crashing, hopefully not on anything important. Here is the tree in question... Read more