July, 2019 - David Mathre Photography

Monday (22-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. Still hot and humid outside. The high was 93 °F with a heat index of 108 °F according to my personal weather station. Clouds developed and ultimately more thunderstorms (two days in a row) with 1.08 inches of rain over the two days. A large number of mushrooms popped up overnight, and I was able to get an image of the Troll mushroom farmers guarding their crop.

Troll Mushroom Farmers. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Focus Magic. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (78.0 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (65.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC system is able to maintain the indoor temperature at 74-76 °F using ~35 kWh of electricity. My previous 30 year old central A/C unit would not have been able to maintain the indoor temperature below 85 °F with outdoor temperatures above 90 °F and used significantly more electricity. Granted, I now have better insulation, an attic fan, and more efficient French doors.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Sunday (21-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back is feeling a lot better. The lower back/lumbar back-brace wrap seems to be working. It forces me to sit up straight and pushes the belly in. Bottom line, exercise and lose some weight… The high was 97 °F with a heat index of 117 °F according to my personal weather station. I went out for a bit around noon with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm lens. Each day there are more and more butterflies. They are mainly attracted to the pink and red Zinnia flowers. Today there were Spicebush and Tiger Swallowtails, Monarchs, and a small Duskywing (?). There also were several Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moths.

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) ? butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre) — Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) ? butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth in flight. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Daily Power Use (82.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (70.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC system busy (~40 kWh). The geothermal heat pump system was able to maintain the indoor temperature even on this hottest day of the year. Beginning a bit before noon the heat pump ran continuously, and for much of the afternoon into the evening in the 2nd stage (high-speed mode). There were clouds in the morning and later in the afternoon limiting the amount of solar power generated — so I used 12 kWh more than was generated.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Saturday (20-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back is feeling somewhat better. I got a lower back/lumbar back brace wrap. It forces me to sit up straight, pushes the belly in, and I can now bend over and touch my toes. It has been on for a day and I feel much better. The high was 97 °F with a heat index of 116 °F according to my personal weather station. I was only out for a short time, but still was able to capture images of Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies, Silver-spotted and Peck’s (?) Butterflies, and Monarch Butterflies. Today, I only saw the Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis). There were also many Bumblebees working the flowers.

Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Silver-spotted and Peck’s (?) Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Monarch Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing Moths (Hemaris diffinis). (Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Bumble Bee on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (76.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (77.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the GeoThermal HVAC system busy (~40 kWh). I also did a ran the dishwasher (~2.5 kWh). The Solar Panels kept up with a 0.7 kWh surplus for the day.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Friday (19-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. The high was 93 °F with a heat index of 113 °F according to my personal weather station. I was only out for a short time, but still was able to capture images of Painted Lady, Tiger Swallowtail, and Monarch butterflies. Today only one type of Clearwing moths — the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). I saw a large hoverfly on a Sunflower. The hoverflies look like bees. There were also many Bumblebees working the flowers.

Painted Lady butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hoverfly on a Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hoverfly on a leaf. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Bumble Bee on a Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (72.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the GeoThermal HVAC system busy (28 kWh). I also did a load of laundry (3.7 kWh) and dishes (~2.5 kWh). Still the Solar Panels almost kept up with only a 1 kWh deficit for the day.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, and Skipper (?) butterflies. Two types of Clearwing Moths — Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). The deer were out later in the afternoon before the heavy thunderstorm (2.24″, 57 mm)

Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Monarch Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Skipper (?) Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Daily Power Use (53.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day progressing to heavy rain in the afternoon. So I ended up using 19 kWh more energy that the solar panels could produce.