Friday (11-March-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed in the backyard, at the birdfeeder and on the patio: Dark-eyed Junco.

Dark-eyed Junco. (David J Mathre)
Dark-eyed Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (David J Mathre)

Indoor hydroponic California Poppy flower opening. Time-lapse Video. Images taken every one minute using a Leica SL2s camera and Laowa 24 mm f/14 macro probe lens.

Time-lapse video of yardwork on Red Rover. I needed to prepare for a storm predicted for tomorrow. Rain, snow, heavy wind, and temperatures dropping well below zero. The bulbs in Soft Pots that started to sprout needed to be brought back into the garage. Also, the Garden Shed that I had been storing the tractor implements blew over during the last windstorm. I was able to set it back up, but two of the ground anchors failed. For this upcoming storm, I decided to anchor the shed from within using a pallet of fertilizer.

Daily Electric Energy Used (81.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (58.5 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Deficit of 23.8 kWh. I should note that the Solar monitoring from SolSystem via Locus Energy stopped working since the Locus LG-120 meter uses 3G cellular to connect. ATT has turned off 3G cellular.


I’ve re-added the feed from my Ambient Weather Station.

powered by Ambient Weather

Saturday (22-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

AeroGarden Hydroponic Updates. Classic 6 #1 Day 6: All 6/6 of the Basil have sprouted. Bounty #1 Day 6: All 9/9 of the Bok Choi have sprouted. Bounty #2 Day 6: 2/2 of the Rouge d’Hiver and 2/2 of the Black Seed Simpson have sprouted. The other lettuce varieties have not sprouted. Classic 6 #2 Day 6: Only the Celosia flower has sprouted. Farm 9R Seed Starting Tray, Day 5: A few more of the poppy seeds have started to germinate. Some fungus is growing on the sponges.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #1. Day 6. Genovese Basil (4/4). Thai Basil (2/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AAeroGarden Bounty #1. Day 6. Bok Choi (9/9). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Bounty #2. Day 6. Red Sails (0/2); Rouge d’Hiver (2/2), Paris Island (0/1), Deer Tongue (0/1), Marvel of 4 Seasons (0/1), Black Seeded Simpson (2/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #2. Day 6. Dill (0/1), Italian Parsley (0/1), Chives (0/1), Orange Gazania (0/1), Phlox Mix (0/1), Celosia (1/1). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Farm 9R Seed Sprouting Tray. Day 5. Row A: California Poppy (American Meadows, 2018) 1/8; Row B: Oriental Poppy (American Meadows, 2019) 0/10; Row C: Lauren Grape Poppy Seeds (Marde Ross & Company, 2020) 1/11; Row D: Hungarian Breadseed Poppy Seeds (Plant Good Seed, 2020) 10/10; Row E: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 8/8; Row F: Turkish Tulip Poppy Seeds (Waterfall Seeds, 2020) 9/10; Row G: Somniferum Blend Poppy Seeds (Seed Needs, 2020) 10/11; Row H: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 9/9; Row I: Mixed Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 8/8. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (120.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Very cold out, supplemental resistance heating required to keep the house warm. Also running six humidifers and five AeroGarden hydroponic gardens. Deficit of 81.5 kWh.

Wednesday (19-January-2020) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Time-lapse videos: Day 3 of the Bok Choi seeds sprouting. Both videos are of images taken every 1 minute for 5 hours 45 minutes then displayed at 12 frames/second. I cut some of the paper retaining ring to get better visibility of the seedlings growing. During the second video, an invasive Asian Ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis) and an invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) were caught crawling by the Bok Choi seedling.

Ladybeetle. (David J Mathre)
Invasive Asian Ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis) investigating the Bok Choi seedlings. Image taken with a Leica SL2s camera and Laowa 24 mm f/14 macro probe lens. (David J Mathre)
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. (David J Mathre)
Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) investigating the Bok Choi seedlings. Image taken with a Leica SL2s camera and Laowa 24 mm f/14 macro probe lens. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (92.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (34.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The sun returned after a day of rain then snow. Deficit of 57.5 kWh.

Tuesday (07-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Time-lapse Videos of the Day. Assembly of the 4th ShelterLogic storage shed. This one has a rounded roof, and we will see if it does better when the snow comes. 1) Morning, assembling the frame. 2) Afternoon, back and front walls. Didn’t finish with the top or anchors as the sun started to go down. Just hope not too much wind overnight.

Daily Electric Energy Used (64.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 39.6 kWh.

Monday (29-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, House Finch.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Little Planet Time-lapse Videos. Continuing to evaluate the LabPano Pilot EE 360 camera. I found that I can do longer shoots using an external USB-C battery pack. It just needs to be one that can do fast charging. The first time-lapse little planet video was changing the AAA batteries in the solar powered Trolls.
Five of the batteries that were removed, wouldn’t take a charge. With the new batteries, three of the Trolls LED lights were on during the day. They are supposed to charge the batteries when it is light out, and only light up when it gets dark out. All but one of the Trolls lights went on when it got dark out, and they were still on at midnight. Will continue to monitor if they continue to charge during the shorter days, and now that the temperature is dropping below freezing every night.

For the next video, the camera was mounted on Red Rover, and on a tripod in the field. Today’s main project was to prepare and seed some of the back sections. A couple of months ago, the sections were fertilized, rototilled, and then covered with black agricultural fabric (to kill germinating weeds). The wildflower seed vendor recommended to sow the seeds after the first few freezes. Apparently, some seeds germinate better if they are out for some time in the cold. (Just hope the birds and mice don’t eat all of the seeds). Today, the black agricultural fabric was removed, the plot leveled with a drag harrow, seeds sowed, then the seeds pressed down with a water-filled drum roller. The LabPano Pilot EE 360 camera was set for a 20x 4K time-lapse video. The white balance and exposure were set to Auto. In the time-lapse video you can see problems with the white balance and exposure. The lighting conditions kept changing from sunny to cloudy.

Daily Electric Energy Used (69.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (24.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy and cold. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 44.6 kWh.