Electric Car, Flowers

The Season of Susans and Tesla Update

72 Comments

 

In Maine, the end of August is one of the sweetest times of the year. For the most part, gone are the high heat and humidity. Instead, we have warm days and cool nights, which means an adjustment with the windows. Now they are open during the day and closed at night so that the house doesn’t get too cold.

We have lost over an hour  of light since the Summer Solstice, and it is dark by 8:00 p.m. Even though this means winter is coming, we don’t mind. At the end of August, we can still sit in the screen house and listen to the song of the crickets. And, as Dee pointed out, soon it will be cool enough for fires in our fire pit. So cozy to sit in the dark with our mugs of tea and watch the fire.

The end of August is also the season of Susans, black-eyed Susans, that is.  How they brighten the gardens at our home by the edge of the woods.

In front

as well as in the backyard.

When the Susans are finally gone for the season—how long they last!—the gardens will definitely be past their best.

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Electric Car Update

Some of you were wondering just how much it would cost in electricity to run Dee’s electric car. We have had the car for a month, and although we aren’t gadabouts, we do go here and there. At least some of the time. However, we all work from home, which means much of the week, the cars sit in the driveway. Do we love our short commute? We certainly do.

Here are the statistics for Dee’s Tesla.

Total miles driven: 300

Electricity cost: $13 (78 Kwh)

Estimated gasoline cost (based on a national average) for the same mileage: $37

Obviously, the cost of electricity varies from place to place, but this was the cost of electricity in Maine. Also, all of our electricity comes from a local solar farm, so none of it was produced by coal or gas.

Step by step, we aim to reduce our carbon output. We are not perfect—we still use propane to heat our hot water—but we are trying.

72 thoughts on “The Season of Susans and Tesla Update”

  3. You’re much closer to cold weather than we are, Laurie. Here, we’re still baking in 90-degree heat by day (and we can thank Texas for sending it north to us!). However, you’re right about the shortened daylight hours, as well as the lengthening of the shadows. I enjoyed seeing your Susans and getting an update on the car. We all should do what we can!

  5. You have a lovely house and garden Laurie. The days are shorter too over here but not as short as yours and September can be warm and sunny or cool and rainy. Mind you we have had more than average rain for the last 10 month’s now !!! It never happened before.

  6. I feel for you with your days drawing in … meanwhile, our dawns are arriving earlier and we can enjoy slightly longer days – never as long as yours though! It is lovely seeing your garden!

  7. I agree with you, Laurie. I live this time a year and also the 6-8 weeks ahead, as fleeting as they are. The black-eyed Susans and also the coneflowers are beautiful. You are doing a much better job of reducing your carbon footprint than we are. At least we can now walk most places. Beautiful pics.

  9. So lovely to see the black-eyed Susans Laurie, and great the nights are getting cooler where you are too 💚 xxx

  10. I love Rudbeckia at this time of year (I surely wish the deer didn’t!) so only have a small patch.
    Thank you for the stats on the Tesla, the cost savings are impressive!

  11. I love black eyed Susans. I remember seeing loads of them when I last visited Vancouver and thinking how we could do with more of them here even though they are non-native and shouldn’t really be encouraged.

  12. Oooh I love the Black-eyed Susans with the blue globe! And I’m already dreaming of fire pits and hot tea. Thank you.

    Congratulations on your Tesla!! We have solar panels and a Tesla too, so our costs are very low too. We are very happy. Our trip to Maine will allow us to use the Tesla network!

      2. Good to know! So many people are worried about the availability of chargers on long trips. Several of my blogging friends mentioned it, and one even went as far as to say she would never get an electric car because of this.

      4. I was thinking of including your information in my monthly Tesla report for September. If that’s all right with you. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of resistance and prejudice toward electric cars.

      5. Yes, please feel free to include our testimonial in your September Tesla report. Kevin drove from our home outside Washington DC to Iowa and back again. The network supported him all the way — and the car did all the “charge up” thinking for him. We’ll test it next when we visit Maine!

  13. Laurie, none of us our perfect, but if everyone does something, I believe it adds up. I’m glad to hear of the cost savings and I’m impressed to read that you have solar-powered electricity. That’s outstanding.

    Your black-eyed Susans are stunning. There is something incredible cheering about yellow flowers. I’m glad you are enjoying nice weather, and I like the notion, too, of sitting around the fire near the woods when it begins to cool.

    Your house and garden look welcoming.

    1. Many thanks!

      Yes, it’s great that our electricity comes from a solar farm.

      Those black-eyed Susans are a jaunty flower that bring so much color to late summer gardens.

  14. Your garden looks lovely, Laurie, so healthy and lush. I also love Black-eyed Susans, find them very cheering. I have come to appreciate August much more because of the abundance of flowers and attendant insect activity, especially once the thermometer no longer climbs above 85. Having changing seasons is preferable to no seasons.

  17. Such a lovely, cheerful display, a joyful last gasp of summer before everything around us starts to close down. As you suggest, the Summer Solstice is just a distant memory and darker times lie ahead, so while we still can it’s great to enjoy and celebrate the colours that are all around us right now.

    1. Those Susans really do jazz up the late summer gardens. I love the changing of the seasons, and I am glad I live in a place where each season is distinct.

  18. The Susans are blooming here as well. Their happy bright faces are a welcome sight as the garden basically shuts down. That is very interesting about the cost of electricity for charging. Thank you for sharing that. Applause on being able to get your electricity from a solar farm.

    1. The Susans really do jazz up the late summer garden.

      We are so pleased with the cost of running the electric car. A friend has one, so we weren’t entirely surprised. Still, it’s nice to have it confirmed.

  20. It takes time to reduce a carbon footprint. To be honest I didn’t even know what one was thirty years ago and would have made a lot of decisions differently if I had.

    1. Right? Thirty years ago, we used to drive here, there, and everywhere without ever giving it a thought. Yes, different decisions would have been made.

  27. I love fire pit season. We get very few perfect evenings for them which makes them even better. No ‘smores for us…a couple of rounds of brie wrapped in foil as the fire gets going; crackers, gooey cheese and a bottle of wine. Doesn’t get much better 😊

  29. I’m a bit late with my comments this week but I did want to say… I would love a solar powered car, it has to be for us all in the future I think … at the moment here in Australia they are still very expensive, but we’ll get there soon!

  30. I just love your beautiful house in the woods and your flowers look wonderful!! We’re still stuck in the heat and humidity and I’m looking forward to when we can have our windows open. Absolutely love your fabulous commute and the good news about how the Tesla is saving money and the environment!🙂

      1. I’ve always liked that your house is red too. I think sometimes people that live in parts of the world where the winter is long like to have colorful houses, just to contrast from all that snow! 🙂

  32. Very interesting. I have always thought that eventually we’d own an electric car…or at least a hybrid. I imagined us living in a 55+ retirement community and only driving to the grocery store or the library. So far we haven’t moved from the house we’ve been in for more than 30 years and maybe we never will. Still, we only live 4 miles from the grocery and 1 mile from the library so we certainly could entertain the thought of driving electric. Maybe the next car.

    1. Sounds like an electric car would be perfect for you and your husband. We love ours, and even though we are homebodies, we do venture to Waterville, twenty-five miles from where we live. 😉

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