Monday (23-September-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Something different. Seeds of the various wildflowers I have planted in my backyard over the last few years trying to create a wildflower meadow. This fall and winter I am going to try and grow some of these indoors in either hydroponic or regular dirt gardens. One of the goals is to know what the plants look like before they develop flowers so in the future I can better what is a weed vs. something I want growing in the wildflower meadows. I also want to relate which which wildflowers did or did not work in my gardens, especially from the wildflower seed mixtures. More seeds and seed mixtures will be in tomorrow’s post.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the slideshow.


Yesterday Electric Energy Used (61.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (48.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Less sun and warmer. As the sun gets lower, the leaves from one of my Sycamore trees block the solar panels part of the afternoon. You can see the hump in the graph. The Geothermal HVAC was on (11.6 kWh). Server backup and new hydroponic garden online. Overall a net deficit of 12.6 kWh.

Daily Electric Energy Used (69.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (47.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Warmer out so the Geothermal HVAC was back on for much of the afternoon and evening (19.2 kWh). Using more electricity while running server backups and the new hydroponic gardens. Overall a net deficit of 22.2 kWh.

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Saturday (21-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens. Wildflowers, a Tiger Swallowtail and Bumblebee on a Mexican Sunflower, and immature Goldfinch working the sunflowers.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter Gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter Gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter Gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Yesterday Electric Energy Used (53.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (52.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun and cooler. The Geothermal HVAC was off. Server backup and new hydroponic garden online. Overall a net deficit of 1.1 kWh.

Daily Electric Energy Used (66.0 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (51.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Warmer out so the Geothermal HVAC was back on (5.2 kWh), Using more electricity while running server backups, laundry (3.7 kWh) and new hydroponic garden. Overall a net deficit of 14.7 kWh.

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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.


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Wednesday (18-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. I noticed a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly on a Mexican Sunflower. It seemed to be larger than the ones I had seen earlier in the summer. When I looked it up, the female is larger, and comes out later in the season than the males.

Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly on a Mexican Sunflower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly on a Mexican Sunflower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)

Yesterday Electric Energy Used (50.0 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (48.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun and still warm. The Geothermal HVAC used 5.9 kWh. Overall a net surplus of 6.3 kWh.

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Some clouds and cooler. The Geothermal HVAC was off, but using more electricity while running server backups. Overall a net deficit of 2.2 kWh.

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Monday (16-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. It is late summer and has been dry. The back pond is almost dry. A long frog hiding in the mud next to the pond.

Lone frog hiding in the mud near the nearly dry pond. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. (David J Mathre)
Lone frog hiding in the mud near the nearly dry pond. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds and still warm. The Geothermal HVAC used 7.3 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 19.2 kWh.

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