Category: Transportation

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.

Friday (19-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey, Working Outside and in the Garage.

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

House Finch. (David J Mathre)
House Finch. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm lens. (David J Mathre)

My Little Planet time-lapse video for the day. Finished removing the mower deck from the John Deere lawn tractor. Removed the agri-fabric and electric fence wire caught in the blades. Removed the blades to be sharpened. Hopefully, I will be able to reinstall the mower deck… Removed electric fence wire from the yellow plastic insulators. Completed installing the Tent Box cold weather inner insulation shell.

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (28.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny. Deficit of 25.0 kWh.

Sunday (14-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Day Working Outside in New Jersey.

My Little Planet time-lapse videos. 1) Installing a Tent Box “Classic” onto White Rhino. I purchased the Tent Box over a year ago. The delivery took a while, and the roof rack mounting bars were for a Range Rover Sport, not the Range Rover Classic. I ended up having the local Land Rover dealer install the factory roof rack. Normally a job for two to install the Tent Box on a vehicle, but I employed Red Rover as my helper. 2) Red Rover’s Little Planet view of installing the TentBox. 3) Red Rover, switching from front forks to front loader bucket, and switching from rear tool carrier/weight to back hoe. 4) Attaching the backhoe to Red Rover. Actually, pretty easy for one person to do since the hydraulics do the heavy lifting. Normal view riding Red Rover with the front loader bucket and rear backhoe.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (17.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Getting colder outside so the Geothermal HVAC is heating the house. Deficit of 42.7 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (340 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (144 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Deficit of 196 kWh.

Saturday (09-October-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey. October Big Day.

This was the annual October Big Day for birdwatching. The morning was cloudy and cool (more like dreary). I first went to the Sourland Mountain Preserve. There were no Canada geese in the pond, so I hiked up the pipeline path. Lots of noisy Blue Jays. A Northern Flicker up in a tree. Some other small birds high up in the canopy that I wasn’t able to get pictures or identify. On the way back down to the pond, I got an image of a female (or immature) Eastern Towhee. When I got to the pond a Great Blue Heron flew to the other side of the pond. Several Turkey Vultures were also soaring over the preserve.

I then went to the local weekly Farmers Market in the parking lot of Village Shopper III in Rocky Hill. I was surprised to see two Black Vultures watching over the market from the roof of one of the stores.

The only birds I observed visiting my birdfeeder during the day were House Finches. I then went for a bike ride to look for other birds in the neighborhood. I did observe a flock of Canada Geese flying in a loose formation. Also, a Chipping Sparrow on a telecommunication cable.

Birds of the day. Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, House Finch, Chipping Sparrow, Eastern Towhee.


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

While out looking for birds I also took pictures of the late season wildflowers in the area. Because it wasn’t very bright out some of the images are noisy. At the Sourland Mountain Preserve: Eastern Daisy Fleabane, Honeysuckle, and Lance Leaf Coreopsis. While on the bike ride Knapweed and Yellow Toadflax (Wild Snapdragon).


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

Little planet time-lapse video of the bike ride taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera. Note: you can expand the video to full screen, and I added some piano music by John Matthew Rosenberg recorded on my last Semester at Sea voyage back in 2016.

Daily Electric Energy Used (42.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (15.4 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy. Deficit of 27.0 kWh.

Saturday (04-September-2021) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Northern Cardinal.


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

Flowers of the day: Blanket Flower, Butterfly Bush, Canna, Cosmos, Evening Primrose, Four O’Clock, Marigold, Morning Glory, Rose Mallow, Sunflower and Zinnia.


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


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

I took my bike out for a spin to see the damage from Tropical Storm Ida on Hollow road. The bridge on Grandview road crossing Rock Brook to Hollow road is closed (blocked by a downed tree). Once on Hollow road I was amazed by the damage. The brook must have been many feet over its bank. There were homes destroyed, vehicles in the woods, pavement washed away. It will be some time before everything can be repaired. The following is a Little Planet time-lapse video of the bike ride.

Daily Electric Energy Used (46.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (59.7kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny. Surplus of 13.3 kWh.