Thursday (18-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Day Nature and Working Outside and in the Garage in New Jersey.

Full moon before the lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, a rain storm came through while the eclipse took place.

Full Moon. (David J Mathre)
Full Moon, before the lunar eclipse. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. (David J Mathre)

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Common Grackle.


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

My Little Planet time-lapse videos for the day. 1) Red Rover. Moving items, switching from the front loader to forks, adding additional support to the pallets being used to support the tractor implements. 2) Tent Box. Starting to install the inner cold weather lining in the tent box. It got dark before I could finish.

Daily Electric Energy Used (41.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny. Deficit of 16.0 kWh.

Wednesday (17-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature and Day Working Outside and in the Garage in New Jersey.

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


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

My Little Planet time-lapse videos for the day. 1) I cut the remaining Canna Lily plants and moved the soft pots into the garage to store them for the winter. I also decided to do the same for the soft pots containing the Gladiolus (probably too far north/cold for the Gladiolus corms to survive in the soft pots outdoors). I know it is an experiment to keep them in the soft pots. Only time will tell. 2) I covered the black mulch pile with a tarp before it rains on Thursday. Then attached the leaf vacuum to the JD lawn tractor and started to pick up some more autumn leaves in the front yard. I had to use a tie-down strap to hold the top of the leaf vacuum on straight. Unfortunately, I managed to snag a section of the ground fabric next to the fence locking up the mower blades. Then had a problem removing the mower deck from the lawn tractor. I know that I have removed it before, but one of the pins wouldn’t budge. ARRG!!! To be continued…

Daily Electric Energy Used (55.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny. The sun is lower, and the Sycamore tree sill has leaves blocking the solar panels. Getting colder outside so the Geothermal HVAC is heating the house. Deficit of 29.9 kWh.

Tuesday (16-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Day Working Outside and in the Garage in New Jersey.

Trolls planning to spend the night protecting the large autumn mushrooms before more gets eaten by the Leopard Slugs, Squirrels, and Field Mice. Also, a troll using a large mushroom to practice ski jumping before the Olympics.


Trolls Protecting the Autumn Mushroom Crop. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, House Finch.


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

My Little Planet time-lapse video for the day. Assembling more wire shelving units. They will be used to store the Soft Pots containing Canna and Gladiolus tubers in the garage for the winter. Using the DR Power leaf vac to clear the fallen autumn leaves in the back and east side yard. This time I emptied the trailer before it was full and too heavy to tip. Removing the backhoe and installing the trailer hitch on Red Rover. Then attaching the trailer and moving 12 Soft Pots with Canna tubers to the storage shelves in the garage.

Daily Electric Energy Used (57.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (26.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mostly sunny. The sun is lower, and the Sycamore tree sill has leaves blocking the solar panels. Getting colder outside so the Geothermal HVAC is heating the house. Deficit of 30.6 kWh.

Monday (15-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Day Working Outside and in the Garage in New Jersey.

My Little Planet time-lapse video for the day. The local Coop truck arrived to deliver 12 cubic yards of black mulch to be dumped at the same location as previous deliveries. Unfortunately, the rear (power) wheels of the truck got stuck in the remaining old wet black mulch. We initially tried putting plywood boards under the tires. That didn’t work. We then tried to help pull the truck out using White Rhino and a nylon jerk strap. We then switched to a heavy duty chain that I saved from Silver Rhino I. This worked. White Rhino helped to free the truck. I’m glad I had the tow package installed on the Range Rover. Most of the day I spent cleaning and reorganizing the garage. The bags of Quikrete were wrapped in plastic to protect from moisture. The DR Power brush mower was switched to a snow blower (hopefully this means little or no snow this winter). I took pictures of the damaged components of the DR Power 25-gallon sprayer, and sent them to DR Power technical support. Unfortunately, they said they couldn’t order the replacement parts for me, and I had to contact the manufacturer — AgriFab. I sent a request into AgriFab for the replacement parts. At the end of the day I put together some more wire shelving units to store the grow bags with Canna tubers. A long day.

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (10.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of clouds. Getting colder outside so the Geothermal HVAC is heating the house. Deficit of 48.8 kWh.

Sunday (14-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Day Working Outside in New Jersey.

My Little Planet time-lapse videos. 1) Installing a Tent Box “Classic” onto White Rhino. I purchased the Tent Box over a year ago. The delivery took a while, and the roof rack mounting bars were for a Range Rover Sport, not the Range Rover Classic. I ended up having the local Land Rover dealer install the factory roof rack. Normally a job for two to install the Tent Box on a vehicle, but I employed Red Rover as my helper. 2) Red Rover’s Little Planet view of installing the TentBox. 3) Red Rover, switching from front forks to front loader bucket, and switching from rear tool carrier/weight to back hoe. 4) Attaching the backhoe to Red Rover. Actually, pretty easy for one person to do since the hydraulics do the heavy lifting. Normal view riding Red Rover with the front loader bucket and rear backhoe.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (17.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Getting colder outside so the Geothermal HVAC is heating the house. Deficit of 42.7 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (340 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (144 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Deficit of 196 kWh.