Tag: Cosmos

Sunday (30-June-2019) — New Jersey

Last Day of June. Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

It hasn’t rained for several days, and is quite warm out. The wildflower meadows are filling in nicely with lots of new flowers. A band of American Goldfinch moved in and started eating the Cornflowers (Bachelor Buttons). Several Sunflowers have opened up. I now have one sunflower plant that is nearly up to my roof.

Backyard Wildflowers (Coreopsis, Cosmos, Poppy). Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Backyard Wildflowers (Coreopsis, Cosmos, Poppy). Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)






Daily Power Use (51.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (72.14 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is up since I did laundry, two loads of dishes and the Geothermal A/C was running. Since it is both the end of the week, and month I’ve also included additional power & solar graphs.

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Sunday (16-June-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Wildflowers in bloom and my urban garden. The yucca plant sent shoots up to flower. The local deer really like these, and if I don’t catch and protect the shoots I don’t get any of the yucca flowers. These flowers bloom at night, around a full moon and attract some large moths. Lots of red poppies and cosmos flowers. Other flowers include the blue spiderworts (open for a day, every day new ones), cornflowers (bachelor buttons — attract goldfinches), morning glory vines, and daisy’s. The garden towers are full of fruits and vegetables. One of my sunflower plants is taller than I am. It is also supporting a burma gourd (water gourd plant) that I hope to get some gourds this year.







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.

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Friday (07-June-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I know, it has been a while. I’ve been dealing with Server Upgrades (running out of space to store my images), Lightroom Catalog Upgrades (needed to increase the size of the catalog images to match my new computer and monitor), home renovation, patio garden, and yard work. I am about caught up. I was taking pictures every day, which I will be posting. The wildflower gardens are starting to bloom. Lots of Red Poppy and Cosmos flowers. New flowers this year are Blue Spiderwort and a White Allium. I am starting to harvest Strawberries from the Grow Towers. Today’s bird pictures are a Female Cowbird. The Cowbirds have been laying their eggs in the Robins nests.

Tiny Green Grasshopper on a Daisy. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tiny Green Grasshopper on a Daisy. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)





Strawberry. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Strawberry. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Strawberry. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Strawberry. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Daily Power Use (est 56 kWh) and Solar Production (64.95 kWh) from Sense. The power use is an estimate since there have been a number of data dropouts beginning about noon. I am waiting on a response from Sense regarding the problem.
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Thursday (01-November-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

One of the few days since I returned from Portugal that the rain stopped. The Japanese Maple tree is bright red. One pink Cosmos flower remained, and the Zinnia flowers are on their last leg. I need to mow the remaining wildflowers, and plant for next spring.

Japanese Maple. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Japanese Maple. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Japanese Maple. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Japanese Maple. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Late Blooming Pink Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Late Blooming Pink Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Late Blooming Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)
Late Blooming Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (David J Mathre)

Friday (13-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

At this time of the year, the dawn clouds don’t seem to be as impressive. Dawn is earlier (before 05:30) so I might miss them, and the sun is further north so some of the colorful clouds may be hidden behind the trees to the north-east. During the day I spent some time with a new camera/lens combo (Nikon D850  camera and 70-300 mm AF-P lens) doing a flower/wildflower walkabout. It is an interesting combo. Individual images from the slides hows can be viewed here.

Early Dawn Panorama. Composite of three image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Early Dawn Panorama. Composite of three image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)




Dragonfly. Image taken with a Nikon D850 Camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Dragonfly. Image taken with a Nikon D850 Camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)