Five-Years Ago (06-March-2016) — Indian Ocean

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 61: Neptune Day while crossing the Indian Ocean.

Neptune Day celebration. Time-lapse video of the shellback initiation for those crossing the equator their first time. Over 50 of the students and life-long learners had their heads shaved.

Shellbacks. (David J Mathre)
Shellbacks. MV World Odyssey At Sea Indian Ocean. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and a Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)

I hope that Semester at Sea is able to run voyages in the future post COVID-19.

Monday (22-February-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

About 4 inches of wet snow and sleet fell in the morning. I waited till it turned to cold rain to clear the driveway. The only reason I cleared the driveway was because I was expecting a UPS delivery. The snow blower has a hard time with wet snow. I had to stop several times to remove the packed “ice-cores” from the blower-chute. Time-lapse video recorded with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Daily Electric Energy Used (88.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (2.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Snow and sleet. The solar panels partially covered with snow. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 86.7 kWh.

Thursday (18-February-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

About 4 inches of snow and sleet. I waited till late afternoon until the precipitation stopped to clear the driveway. More snow, sleet, and frozen rain expected tomorrow. It is a lot easier clearing the snow right away. Time-lapse video recorded with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Daily Electric Energy Used (85.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (0.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The solar panels totally covered with snow. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 85.3 kWh.

Sunday (07-February-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

It started snowing a bit after 07:00 in the morning and continued until 15:30 in the afternoon. Total accumulation 8-10 inches. As soon as it stopped snowing I went out with the snow blower to clear the driveway. It went a lot easier clearing the snow right away. Time-lapse video recorded with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Daily Electric Energy Used (88.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (0.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The solar panels covered with snow. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 88.3 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (524 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (30 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The solar panels covered with snow much of the week. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 496 kWh.

Friday (05-February-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

More snow early this morning. I went out after the snow stopped to widen the path to the road using the Brush Mower with Snow-blower attachment. First had to replace the broken collar connecting the Snow-blower attachment to the Brush Mower. Luckily, an extra collar was included in the assembly kit from the manufacture. Some of the snow had melted and refrozen making the task more difficult. I need to get chains for the wheels. Time-lapse video taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Daily Electric Energy Used (70.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (8.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny, however the solar panels still significantly covered with snow. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 62.2 kWh.