THE ILLINOIS GLADES

While not as impressive as the glades in Florida.... I would say these are one of the most beautiful waterland areas around our home.

*A picture taken close to the beginning of our journey.

These glades that I speak up, are located near Grafton Illinois, a place near our homestead. It is a place that was artificially created by people, to help nature do what it does best, and be beautiful.😃

EVAN THE KAYAKING NINJA!!!

*A good looking ninja, right?

But why is he all ninja-ed up? That answer is easy enough...in our area we have a little bug called a Buffalo Gnat. These little guys come in bug swarms...and they love human blood. They, like mosquitoes, use it to feed on and is needed for them to produce eggs. The bites are also pretty painful. So, a bit of head coverage is quite nice.😃

*A beautiful views of the marshy glade lands.

With views like the one above, battling with the Buffalo Gnats, was definitely worthwhile!😍 Not only that, but the level of peacefulness that comes with being on the water is too hard to explain.

There were no other people out there so it was just us and all the beautiful views and sounds of nature. This place is home to so many different bird species, and listening to them as they went about their daily lives was music to our ears. We even had some Canadian Geese fly directly above us only 15 feet(3 meters) or so above us a couple times!🥰😃

*Evan heading towards what looked like a cave made into a thicket of woods.

*Evan as he enters "the cave."

WHAT WAS THIS CAVE?

Well, once we got close enough to inspect this thing, and had entered through this opening...we discovered it was not any form of natural thing. It was pretty crazy to paddle a boat into this thing that just looked like a big pile of brush, to discover this......

*CRAZY, RIGHT?!?

It was actually a little floating, man-made structure. It is what is known as a duck blind. A place people can hide in as they hunt ducks and geese. Hunters would ride their boat out here. Then hide out in here to be able to shoot ducks and geese to have food.

In the picture above you can see the holes in the top of the duck blind. These are where the hunter would shoot from. I've never hunted ducks or geese, but I'd love to have place as a clubhouse for my boy and me just to hang out in.😃😃

*A huge open area of wetlands.

While I was unable to get any pictures, I thought it was amazing how clear the water was. We could watch the fish swimming around in the water just inches below us!!! If we would have had no more then a small fishing net, we could have caught several very easily!

A MILLION WATTS OF SOLAR POWER PRODUCED!!!!💪💪

*1000 KILOWATTS, OR A MILLION WATTS!!!!

This milestone has taken so time to achieve, but as we expand our solar array, the production numbers will increase even more quickly.

Speaking of expanding, we just picked up two more of our 185 watt panels, and will be getting six more soon. This will double the current size of our panel array....and allow for us to have air conditioning!!!!😍🥰💪😃😃

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A huge thank you to all our great hive supporters!!! We love and appreciate each and every one of you.🤗🤗🤗

As you make your way through this week and you interact with all the people that make up your community, should you happen to encounter somebody who seems to be negative or in a bad mood, maybe take some time to try to understand what it is that they are going through that has been in the situation that has caused them to be upset. We are all living our own story, and just like your story has not always bright and happy there is may not be either. However, when we take time for one another and our stories are able to entertain we have the ability to be the light that person may need. We love you all and wish you the best!