Black’s Cliff Resort’s Birch Bark Blog

A quiet week at the resort without guests in some areas means Craig starts looking to the sky at dead trees.  They picked this tricky dead birch between out house and Kaubashine.  Odds on hitting the house 50 – 50

Discussing and tightening up the come a long

Notice Craig picking up his feet, tree is not far behind

Timber!

Neither Kaubashine or our house hit..  Now on to a trickier tree

Tying the knot at the top of the ladder in some more dead birch by Birchwood

Getting the land line set.  Will Jack’s landing get hit?

More debate and sharing of wisdom

I think the tree is rotten, Craig says, just before a dead branch just about takes out Steve at the base

Intense debate about the notch and cut

When the fingers start pointing you know they are a little nervous

No need to worry

Tree number 3, the trickiest of the day with lots of dead branches leaning over the road.  The plan to pull the tree over towards the sauna

Will the plan work?

With their new come a long system, I sort of miss the days of tieing the rope on the truck and flooring it to pull the trees over.

View off the hill this morning.  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet

Mac sneaking in the picture.. wondering where all the excitement at the beach has gone.  School started today and he is definitely noticing how quiet the resort and our house is this morning

I have one cabin left for Labor Day Weekend.  Norway is open til Sunday.  I will reduce it to the 2bdr rate for smaller groups.  It is booked though starting on Sunday

Shamrock is open til Saturday and can also be booked at 2bdr rate up to Saturday for smaller groups

No pictures today, to busy school shopping.  Missed an uneventful tree dropping.  Ever since the guys started using the come a long, they have not hit anything exciting

Eyes in the woods watching.  We have seen this buck a few times the last few weeks.  He has some goofy horns.  The deer are coming into the resort to eat acorns and the volleyball court is full of them

He was nice enough to pose for my telephoto before he took off

Ever wonder who gets your cabins clean.  This is our main cleaning crew pictured on the final big Saturday clean this summer.  Katie, Marcy, me, Olga and Sergio.  The best cleaning crew in the Northwoods.  Missing from the picture is Olga and Sergio’s kids who sometimes help, Jackelyn and Sergio Jr.  Katie and I have been cleaning since we could push a vacuum, Olga and Sergio have been cleaning for us for about 16 years.  Marcy joined in a few years ago.  Could not ask for better people to work with.  The work is hard but we all manage to have fun while doing it and are like a family reunited every Saturday exchanging stories and friendship

It was a warm beautiful late summer afternoon with folks out enjoying the lake

Time to see if the retreiver in Mac likes water.  He is definitely not a jump in the water dog like Poe.  He slowly wades in with encouragement.  The final step off is scary and he balks at it

Ok, not so bad once you are in.  I haves seriously caught the golden ring and have the best home possible, laughing at all my litter mates who jumped beat me out for all those other homes.  Resort dogs life is the way to go!

Yes another day of dog pictures.  Been a little time consuming this week with getting Mac used to the resort so yes one more day of Mac around the resort pics.  The group this week has been great helping us through the transition from Poe to Mac.  They experienced the whole week with us loosing Poe and welcoming Mac.  Some of the kids at the resort don’t remember coming without Poe.  They wanted to share their steak bones with him on their first night that I had to turn down because he was having a hard time eating.  Now they are happy to have Mac come by for a visit.  These kids watched him the 2nd day when we had to leave and were unsure how he would be in the house or his crate.  Everyone has been great and understanding

Mac’s first test with other dogs was helped by the Hollenbeck family with their dogs Lily the Poodle and Moose the 3 and half legged big dog in a small dogs body.  Moose and Lily were great to let Mac check them out and test his social skills with other dogs.  The Hollenbecks also sent along a batch of chocolate chip cookies on the day we lost Poe.  Nothing like chocolate to make a horrible day better for our kids

Heading down to the lake to see what is going on.  After having a dog that needs a break half way up it was hard to keep up with Mac who leaps 3 steps at time going up the stairs

The Hollenbeck family coming into shore after a early evening kayak trip across the lake

Hmm anything in the lake that smells worse than I do that I can roll in?

Time to head back to laying by the porch.  Thanks to everyone at the resort this week who has shared this hard but also rewarding week with us.

Time to check out the lake.  Mac may not know how to retrieve being a golden retreiver but he definitely knows what water is all about

Big scary dock.  I did not write yesterday where Mac came from.  He is 10 months old and came from a breeder Queen Annes Gold in Baraboo.  He was passed over by others because he is a bit skittish and did not wiggle his way forward enough to be picked.  He came basically trained and ready to go.  Anne had a group of new puppies ready to get September 24th but our house was too empty to wait that long.  Over 3 hours in the car down and back to pick him up but I think he was worth it to Baraboo.

Checking out big scary boats that move

View through the clouds this morning.  The lake was sparkling

Checking things out.  He is a definite challenge to take pictures of, he moves a lot faster than old Poe and does not know how to stay yet

Not quite up to a boat ride yet

Ok the lake is cool but I am ready to find my spot next to the couch.  Swimming another day

I regretfully type this entry to let everyone know we put old Poe to sleep yesterday.  Into every dog owners life a few special stand out dogs come.  He was one of them.  Looking in his eyes you can see what made him special unconditional love..  He is in a better place and out of the pain he lived with the last few months.  He will be missed by many

The hole that was left in our family and the resort was huge and needed for our sanity to be filled soooo…..

Welcome the latest in a long line of great resort dogs, Mac.  You have some big paws to fill from Tulip, Gonzo, Penny, Nanook, Maggie and Poe.  So far he is getting used to his new home and lifting up our heavy hearts.  Thanks Mac may you be as special as the dogs before you to us and those that visit the resort

A sure sign that summer is still hanging on.

A week does not go by that balls are not being caught off the raft

What form!

When in doubt grab a friend (or a cousin) and jump in

Enjoying the waves

Boat wars… who’s boat goes down first?  Only 9 more days til most kids are in school on September 1st.  Time to get in those last days swimming

August 28th we have a bunch of cabins open with a 2 night minimum

Labor Day  2bdr is open til Sunday and we have one cabin left open for the entire weekend

www.selecttacklecompany.com

Check out the above link for the infamous Double Showgirls which are now in stock at Charles Hebert’s online fishing store.  What is a Double Showgirl…. no idea but I am told this makes sense to Muskie Fishermen.  Can’t Muskie fish Lower Kaubashine without them!  and maybe a few Cowgirls as well.  Any questions about how to use them ask Charles he had plenty of time to practice with them this summer on Lower Kaubashine