Last Day of Spring. Backyard Nature in New Jersey.
It seems that “Nibbles” the Bunny Rabbit is moving in near my Kitchen Wildflower Garden. I’m letting him or her stay for the time being. So far it is not eating the Poppies.
Daily Power Use (50.7 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (38.36 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is up since I did laundry and the Geothermal A/C was running.
While reviewing images on the security cameras, I noticed two rabbits walking by the house early in the morning. I had seen a rabbit earlier in the year way back in the yard. With all of the rain we have been having the backyard grass is getting tall, and has lots of clover. Later in the afternoon, one of the rabbits was back nibbling on plants growing just outside the fenced in wildflower meadow. Now if I could just train it to eat the mile-a-minute vine (in the foreground)…
Daily Power Use (44.7 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (13.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is down since I powered down the backup server (will only run it when running backups). I am also not generating much solar energy with all of the rain.
It rained a lot today (1.71 in/43 mm). More wet Red Poppy pictures. This time some with real bees.
Daily Power Use (54.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (23.13 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is down since I adjusted the thermostat to 72°F.
I continue to get new poppies blooming every day. The most are red, some are pink, and one was white. The flowers attract tiny hoverflies.
Daily Power Use (54.0 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (38.75 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is down since I adjusted the thermostat to 72°F.
It appears that hover flies really like all of the poppies currently in bloom. In a small white poppy (Icelandic Poppy?) observed a tiny Praying Mantis eating a tiny Hover Fly. Even though I didn’t have a macro lens on the camera, I was able to crop the image to make the tiny insects visible. I have never seen a Praying Mantis this early in the season. Normally, I only see them when they are much larger in late July and August.
Daily Power Use (74.2 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (42.05 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is up since I reduced the indoor temperature provided by the WaterFurnace Geothermal HVAC system. Will raise the indoor temperature to 72°F for tomorrow. The power was also out for a little over one hour in the morning. For safety/code reasons, if the PSE&G power is down, my solar panels are disconnected from the grid. I’m thinking of getting a couple of Tesla PowerWall batteries so this doesn’t happen in the future.