Tag: Cosmos

Thursday (19-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Some of the Cosmos plants are nearly 10 feet tall, with blossoms way up. I’ve seen hummingbirds feeding on them, but haven’t been able to capture an image. The strawberry plants in my Grow Towers are sending out runners. I am going to try to transplant some of the runners into an indoor hydroponic system and see if I can produce strawberries in the middle of the winter. The Burma Water Gourd vine put out some more flowers. I think these are female flowers so I may actually get some gourds to set. Although it is probably too late to get 1 meter long gourds.

Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec). (David J Mathre)
Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec). (David J Mathre)
Strawberry Runner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 335 mm, f/5.6, 1/75 sec). (David J Mathre)
Strawberry Runner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 335 mm, f/5.6, 1/75 sec). (David J Mathre)
Strawberry Runner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 243 mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec). (David J Mathre)
Strawberry Runner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 243 mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (56.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More Sunshine. The Geothermal HVAC was off, but using more electricity while running server backups. Overall a net surplus of 3 kWh.


Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Tuesday (20-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout, today with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. This is the highest resolution camera in my collection, and the 200-500 mm VR lens light enough to shoot handheld for some time. Lots of butterflies in the wildflower meadow. Silver-spotted Skipper, a pair of frisky Common Buckeye, a Monarch, and a Sulphur.

Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of Frisky Common Buckeye Butterflies on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of Frisky Common Buckeye Butterflies on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of Frisky Common Buckeye Butterflies on a Zinnia Flower. Male with the tattered wings being rejected. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 560, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of Frisky Common Buckeye Butterflies on a Zinnia Flower. Male with the tattered wings being rejected. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 560, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch Butterfly on a Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch Butterfly on a Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Sulphur Butterfly on an Orange Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Sulphur Butterfly on an Orange Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (62.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC had to work hard (25.6 kWh) because the temperature outside went to 90°F. Daily net deficit 1.1 kWh.

One note — the WaterFurnace Symphony software indicated the system used 14 kWh, however the Sense Energy monitor indicated that the geothermal heat pump used 25.6 kWh. I tend to believe the Sense numbers since they more closely the energy being recorded at the external power company (PSE&G) meters. I’ve asked the WaterFurnace folks in the past about the discrepancy, but they didn’t have a good answer. The Sense folks told me they thought that the WaterFurnace/Symphony system was only measuring one phase of the energy even though the system is powered by the 220V circut (using two phases). I wish an electrical engineer that understands this better would correct me here.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Monday (19-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout, today with a Nikon Df camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. The thing I like about this camera is that it light for a DSLR, and has the same full-frame 35 mm sensor as the Nikon D4 camera. I have to admit that the camera failed on me once while in Antarctica when the shutter failed. The 70-300 mm lens is also relatively light. Yesterday, I said it had been some time since I had seen a hummingbird moth. Well, today the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) returned. And I took a lot of pictures. Feeding on Bee Balm flowers, Cosmos flowers, and Zinnia flowers.


Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Feeding on Bee Balm Flowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.



Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Feeding on Cosmos Flowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.



Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Feeding on Zinnia Flowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (66.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (65.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Fewer clouds and more sun. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC had to work harder (25.6 kWh) because the temperature outside went above 90°F. Daily net deficit 0.6 kWh.

One note — the WaterFurnace Symphony software indicated the system used 16 kWh, however the Sense Energy monitor indicated that the geothermal heat pump used 25.6 kWh. I tend to believe the Sense numbers since they more closely the energy being recorded at the external power company (PSE&G) meters. I’ve asked the WaterFurnace folks in the past about the discrepancy, but they didn’t have a good answer. The Sense folks told me they thought that the WaterFurnace/Symphony system was only measuring one phase of the energy even though the system is powered by the 220V circut (using two phases). I wish an electrical engineer that understands this better would correct me here.


Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Saturday (03-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Foggy Morning. Looking out my bedroom window, I could barely see beyond the Sunflower. As soon as the sun came up, the fog started to dissipate. For my morning walkabout I took a Leica TL-2 camera with a 35 mm f/1.4 lens because of the fog and lower light levels.  Mainly flowers (Sunflowers, Zinnia, Cosmos, Pokeweed, Coreopsis, Coneflower, Larkspur, Chicory, Four O’Clock) since it was still foggy with great diffuse lighting. A few bumblebees were out, but they seemed to be frozen on the Sunflowers. Maybe they spent the night there.

Back side of a Sunflower from my bedroom window on a foggy morning. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Back side of a Sunflower from my bedroom window on a foggy morning. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Foggy Morning Backyard View. Composite of two images taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Foggy Morning Backyard View. Composite of two images taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

 


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


 


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



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



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


Daily Electric Energy Used (58.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (67.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Net Surplus 8.9 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Monday (08-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

It rained most of the morning. Later in the afternoon, I did see a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) in my Wildflower Meadow. Right now it is attracted to the Pink Cosmos and Zinnia flowers. I am trying different camera/lens combinations to get the best images of the Hummingbird Moth. Today I used a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (exclusively at 400 mm).


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.




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.




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.




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 (45.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (37.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. It rained all morning, and the sun didn’t come out until midday so the power generation was low. The temperatures stayed low, so the geothermal HVAC system didn’t need to work as hard to keep the indoor cool. But, I still used 8.6 kWh more power than produced by the solar panels.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather