Category: Nature

Views of nature and the natural world. Plants, animals, and wildlife from around the world.

Thursday (28-November-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

A rather small young doe inside my electric fence. She was wondering why I was pointing a large lens at her. I told her happy Thanksgiving, and we wouldn’t be having venison for dinner.


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


Daily Electric Energy Used (69.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (23.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Cloudy all day. Overall a net deficit of 46.3 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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Wednesday (27-November-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Yard Work.

Snow is forcasted for early next week. I finished assembling the DR-Power leaf vacuum and connecting it to my John Deere lawn tractor. I added ~ 1.1 L of 5W 30 Mobil One oil and filled the gas tank. It took a few minutes to start the engine. I am happy I got the electric starter option. Between the noise from the tractor motor and the leaf vacuum motor, I decided I needed to be wearing hearing protection. Even though the grass and leaves were a bit damp, the majority were picked up. I also learned the hard way to check to see if the leaf collector was full. I kept going until the leaves were not being sucked up. Then when I checked found that the trailer was not only full, but over full. Compare the 2nd and 3rd video… It was very difficult to empty the trailer, and I had to dig a good portion out. I managed to collect three trailers full of leaves that are being used to start a new mulch pile. I will go out again tomorrow to finish the job, and to assemble the snow-blower attachment for the DR-Power Field and Brush mower.

 

Daily Electric Energy Used (74.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (9.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Cloudy all day. Overall a net deficit of 64.7 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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Wednesday (27-November-2019) — New Jersey

Indoor Hydroponic Wildflowers.

The first Purple Cornflower flower opened. The plants have many more buds, but have grown to the maximum height (36 inches) in the AeroGarden hydroponic farm. I need to add nearly 2 liters of water + plant food every day to the tray growing the Cornflowers, Plains Coreopsis, and Zinnia plants.

Purple Cornflower Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/16, 1/4 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Purple Cornflower Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/16, 1/4 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Plains Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/16, 1/4 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Plains Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/16, 1/4 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Plains Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Plains Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (74.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (9.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Cloudy all day. Overall a net deficit of 64.7 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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Tuesday (26-November-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Young deer inside the electric fence.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slide show.


Daily Electric Energy Used (70.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Overall a net deficit of 39.5 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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Five-Years Ago (26-November-2014) — Florida

Moon, Palm Tree Silhouettes, and Orange Contrail Clouds at Sunset.

Another case of “the best camera is the one with you”. I’d never seen contrails lined up like this before with the added bonus of happening just after sunset. View from the Old Northeast section of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Moon, Palm Tree Silhouettes, and Orange Contrail Clouds at Sunset in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 11-23 mm wide-angle zoom lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/6.4, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)
Moon, Palm Tree Silhouettes, and Orange Contrail Clouds at Sunset in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 11-23 mm wide-angle zoom lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/6.4, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)