Saturday (22-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal.


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

AeroGarden Hydroponic Updates. Classic 6 #1 Day 6: All 6/6 of the Basil have sprouted. Bounty #1 Day 6: All 9/9 of the Bok Choi have sprouted. Bounty #2 Day 6: 2/2 of the Rouge d’Hiver and 2/2 of the Black Seed Simpson have sprouted. The other lettuce varieties have not sprouted. Classic 6 #2 Day 6: Only the Celosia flower has sprouted. Farm 9R Seed Starting Tray, Day 5: A few more of the poppy seeds have started to germinate. Some fungus is growing on the sponges.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #1. Day 6. Genovese Basil (4/4). Thai Basil (2/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AAeroGarden Bounty #1. Day 6. Bok Choi (9/9). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Bounty #2. Day 6. Red Sails (0/2); Rouge d’Hiver (2/2), Paris Island (0/1), Deer Tongue (0/1), Marvel of 4 Seasons (0/1), Black Seeded Simpson (2/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #2. Day 6. Dill (0/1), Italian Parsley (0/1), Chives (0/1), Orange Gazania (0/1), Phlox Mix (0/1), Celosia (1/1). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Farm 9R Seed Sprouting Tray. Day 5. Row A: California Poppy (American Meadows, 2018) 1/8; Row B: Oriental Poppy (American Meadows, 2019) 0/10; Row C: Lauren Grape Poppy Seeds (Marde Ross & Company, 2020) 1/11; Row D: Hungarian Breadseed Poppy Seeds (Plant Good Seed, 2020) 10/10; Row E: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 8/8; Row F: Turkish Tulip Poppy Seeds (Waterfall Seeds, 2020) 9/10; Row G: Somniferum Blend Poppy Seeds (Seed Needs, 2020) 10/11; Row H: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 9/9; Row I: Mixed Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 8/8. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (120.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Very cold out, supplemental resistance heating required to keep the house warm. Also running six humidifers and five AeroGarden hydroponic gardens. Deficit of 81.5 kWh.

Friday (21-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, 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.

AeroGarden Hydroponic Updates. Bounty #1: All 9/9 of the Bok Choi have sprouted. Farm 9R Seed Starting Tray: Many of the poppy seeds have started to germinate. Some fungus is growing on the sponges.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Bounty #1. Day 5. Bok Choi (9/9). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. Note, removed all but one or two plants in each position. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Farm 9R Seed Sprouting Tray. Day 4. Row A: California Poppy (American Meadows, 2018) 0/8; Row B: Oriental Poppy (American Meadows, 2019) 0/10; Row C: Lauren Grape Poppy Seeds (Marde Ross & Company, 2020) 0/11; Row D: Hungarian Breadseed Poppy Seeds (Plant Good Seed, 2020) 9/10; Row E: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 6/8; Row F: Turkish Tulip Poppy Seeds (Waterfall Seeds, 2020) 6/10; Row G: Somniferum Blend Poppy Seeds (Seed Needs, 2020) 5/11; Row H: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 6/9; Row I: Mixed Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 2/8. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. Note fungus growing on some of the sponges. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (125.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Very cold out, supplemental resistance heating required to keep the house warm. Deficit of 93.4 kWh.

Thursday (20-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard on a snowy then rainy day: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal. As soon as it snows, the Northern Cardinals show up. They are a lot more tolerant feeding with other birds around. Unlike the Blue Jays and Red-bellied Woodpecker.


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.

AeroGarden Hydroponic Updates. Classic-6 #1: Some of the Basil is starting to germinate. Bounty #1: 8/9 of the Bok Choi have sprouted. Bounty #2: Only a couple of lettuce varieties have sprouted. Classic-6 #2. Not much activity. Farm 9R Seed Starting Tray: Not much activity.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #1. Day 4. Genovese Basil (3/4). Thai Basil (0/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Bounty #1. Day 4. Bok Choi (8/9). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Bounty #2. Day 4. Red Sails (0/2); Rouge d’Hiver (1/2), Paris Island (0/1), Deer Tongue (0/1), Marvel of 4 Seasons (0/1), Black Seeded Simpson (1/2). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Classic-6 #2. Day 4. Dill (0/1), Italian Parsley (0/1), Chives (0/1), Orange Gazania (0/1), Phlox Mix (0/1), Celosia (0/1). Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
AeroGarden Farm 9R Seed Sprouting Tray. Day 3. Row A: California Poppy (American Meadows, 2018) 0/8; Row B: Oriental Poppy (American Meadows, 2019) 0/10; Row C: Lauren Grape Poppy Seeds (Marde Ross & Company, 2020) 0/11; Row D: Hungarian Breadseed Poppy Seeds (Plant Good Seed, 2020) 0/10; Row E: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 0/8; Row F: Turkish Tulip Poppy Seeds (Waterfall Seeds, 2020) 0/10; Row G: Somniferum Blend Poppy Seeds (Seed Needs, 2020) 0/11; Row H: Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 0/9; Row I: Mixed Red Poppy Seeds (American Meadows, 2019) 0/8. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (87.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (6.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The sun returned after a day of rain then snow. Deficit of 80.7 kWh.

Tuesday (18-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, 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.

While taking the trash out, I noticed that the moon was nearly full. Actually one day after the full moon. Since the sky was clear, I also set cameras up to do some star trails. There definitely are more jets flying than one and two years ago. Also a couple of meteor trails. A couple of notes using the Leica Q2 monochrome for composite star trail images. The ISO needs to be 100 and the exposure time no greater than 4 seconds, otherwise a second dark (shutter closed) image is taken and subtracted to remove sensor noise. Also, I wish the camera had an option to connect an external power source so I could take longer sequences.

full moon. (David J Mathre)
Full Moon. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and Sigma 150-600 mm sport lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 273 images [19:00 – 21:15] taken with a Leica SL2 camera and Loawa 9 mm f/5.6 W-Dreamer lens (ISO 100, 9 mm, f/5.6, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1276 [18:00 – 19:40] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1520 [20:33 – 22:40] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1520 [22:59 – 01:06] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)

Day 2 of the Bok Choi seeds sprouting time-lapse videos. First video, images taken every 1 minute for 13 hours 36 minutes then displayed at 12 frames/second. The second video images taken every 1 minute for 5 hours, then displayed at 12 frames/second.

Daily Electric Energy Used (95.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (22.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Some sun and a bit warmer outside so the resistance heaters were not needed, but the Geothermal HVAC system was on most of the day. Deficit of 73.0 kWh.

Saturday (25-December-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

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


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

Daily Electric Energy Used (62.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (6.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy. Geothermal HVAC heating the house, much of the day stage 2 since it is cold outside. Deficit of 56.4 kWh.