Month: December 2021

Sunday (19-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, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, House Finch, White-throated Sparrow.


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

Fox checking out the patio.

Daily Electric Energy Used (68.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (14.7kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy and light rain. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 54.1 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (403 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (156 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 247 kWh.

Saturday (18-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow.


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

Raccoons are back on the patio.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (3.5kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy and light rain. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 56.7 kWh.

Friday (17-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, European Starling, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


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

Time-lapse Little Planet videos of the day. Breaking cardboard down for the biweekly recycling pickup. The main project for the day was to start working on the deer fence. Yesterday, Red Rover was used to dig the first post hole. Today the first 6 foot steel inner sleeve was pounded into the hole. A layer of gravel is added to the bottom, and then the hole filled with about one bag (50 lbs) of Quikrete (fast setting concrete). Before adding the water, the Quikrete was pounded down and the post aligned strait up using a magnetic leveling device. Water (about 1 gallon) was added, and the concrete allowed to set for 24+ hours as the temperature was only in the mid-50’s. Ten more holes were dug, and seven more inner posts installed. Note that the ground is very rocky, so not all of the holes and posts could be set to the same depth. The great thing about the Benner deer fence system is that the eight foot outer post slips over the inner post so all of the posts can be set to the same height above the ground.

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (23.5kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 23.6 kWh.

Thursday (16-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, 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.

Red Rover time-lapse video of the day. Today’s project was to attach the Woods PD-25 post-hole digger on Red Rover. Took a while to get it installed. Read the safety manual several times. When completed, dug the first of 170 holes for the deer fence project. Small issue of a bolt rubbing one of the safety shields, and a shear bolt falling out (didn’t shear, nut must not have been on tight enough). Tech from Belle Mead motors stopped by to fix the rubbing issue.


Daily Electric Energy Used (50.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (27.5kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 22.8 kWh.

Wednesday (15-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Colorful Clouds at Dawn. Composite of seven, ten, and eighteen images taken with a Leica SL2-s camera and 16-35 mm lens. Images were processed with Capture One Pro 22, including the panorama stitching. This is a new feature in the just released update to Capture One Pro. Previously, I would have stitched the images with AutoPano Giga (a program no longer supported) or PTGui.


Backyard Dawn Panorama. Individual images in the slideshow are best viewed in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco. Not as many birds as yesterday visiting the patio and birdfeeder.


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

Red Rover time-lapse video of the day.

Daily Electric Energy Used (63.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (29.4 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny in the morning. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 34.1 kWh.