Eleven-Years Ago Today. Birdbath and statue covered with snow. (10-Dec-2013, New Jersey).
Foggy Fogy Day
The fog persisted into the afternoon, and it remained cloudy overnight. The telescopes had the day off. I took the Leica Q2-monochrome out for a walkabout to capture the dreary mood. The patch of Cattails next to the pond has increased in size now that the pond has been enlarged. They were struggling during the drought but now should be self-seeding for next year. For the individual Cattail, I used the macro/closeup feature on the Leica Q2 camera.
Late Autumn Cattails in the Fog. Image taken with a Leica Q2M camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens (ISO 200, f/4, 1/125 sec).Late Autumn Cattail in the Fog. Image taken with a Leica Q2M camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens (ISO 200, f/4, 1/160 sec).
Wildflower Meadow Plan
I recently mowed the back wildflower meadow in preparation for seeding. This year I am going to try seeding in the winter after it snows. I don’t plan to rototill or plow this year. I may put out some slow-release fertilizer. This will allow the wildflower seeds to be exposed to the cold for several months before germinating. The risk will be the birds and mice thinking I put the seed out for them. If it works, I should have a jump on an early flowering season next spring.
Little Planet Foggy View of the Late Autumn Wildflower Meadow after being Mowed. Composite of 66 images taken with a Hasselblad 907x camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens (ISO 64, f/16, 1 sec). Images processed with DxO Pure Raw, Capture One, Photoshop, and PTGui (to create the 360° Little Planet View).
Birds of the day viewed in my backyard: Mourning Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, American Goldfinch.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on Canna flowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Little Planet video viewing the back section of the yard. Hamlett’s Tree Service have been clearing the Russian Olive and dead trees. I will need to spread fall cover seeds, but need some rain.
Daily Electric Energy Used (53.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (51.0 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Deficit of 2.5 kWh.
Birds of the day viewed in my backyard: White-breasted Nuthatch, Song Sparrow. Note, I spent the morning using a brush mower to cut back the weeds and didn’t spend much time looking for birds. I only saw one Ruby-throated hummingbird, but wasn’t able to capture an image.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Time-lapse video “Using a Brush Mower to Attack the Weeds”. Images taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera, and processed using PhotoShop and PreimerPro.
Daily Electric Energy Used (59.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (68.5 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Surplus of 8.8 kWh.
Weekly Electric Energy Used (588 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (446 kWh) from Sense. Deficit of 142 kWh. It finally started to cool down the last two days of the week, generating more electricity than I needed to cool the house.
When I woke up 6+ inches of snow already fell during the night. An additional 2 inches fell during the day. The snow finally stopped by 15:00. During the night, a fox was sighted by the infrared video camera off the patio.
Sixteen Trolls Covered with Snow. Image taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera and 28 mm f/1.7 lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Backyard Panorama with 18 Trolls Covered with Snow. Composite of seven images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera and 28 mm f/1.7 lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/4.5, 1/200 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro. The new Panorama feature within Capture One Pro didn’t work with this set of images, so the panorama was generated with AutoPano Giga (David J Mathre)
Birds of the day on a snowy day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Videos using the Snow Blower, and Red Rover to clear snow from the driveway. The tensioning spring for the PTO belt on the Snow Blower was loose. It was pretty hard to get it back on when the temperature was below 20°F. I needed to use a crow bar to push the belt wheel back far enough to attach the spring.
Daily Electric Energy Used (113.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (0.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The solar panels were covered with 8+ inches of snow. The suplemental resistance heating kicked on at night as the outdoor temperature dropped below 10°F. Deficit of 113.6 kWh.
Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow.
Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Day 3 of the Tree Project. Half day on Christmas Eve. Several little planet time-lapse videos of the work.
Hamlet Tree Service. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (71.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (15.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy. Geothermal HVAC heating the house, much of the day stage 2 since it is cold outside. Deficit of 56.2 kWh.
