Final Week With MBTS: Weekly Reflection

With my Senior Project now complete, I can officially say that I acheived all my goals, and put them all to use in my last week with Murphy Brothers Tree Service. I put in a total of 45 hours this past week, with Monday threw Wednesday being extremely long days. In these three long days I got a lot accomplished because it was just Linus and I. I was able to drive a truck with the chipper on the back consistently throughout the day, get a lot of climbing in and operate and cut from the bucket truck. This week seemed to fly buy because we were jumping from one job to the next and just pumping out the jobs. By the end of the day came, I would come home, shower, write my blog, study my CDL book then go to bed and do it all over again the next day. Friday was the best day of my senior project. Kevin and Linus were both unable to work that day due to other commitments, so they put me in charge of running MBTS for the day. They gave me a huge responsibility and had faith in me that I would respond to their challenge, and I did. Running the crew for that day made me apply all my three goals into all the jobs. Driving the large CDL trucks, tree climbing, and bucket truck operation.
I think I have come along way in just three weeks. The first day I started, I was unsure of what to do and what to expect. The last day of my project, I had all the weight of the company on my shoulders. In just three weeks, I earned a great deal of trust, responsibility, and respect from both owners, Kevin and Linus. On the first day, I would have never even thought they would ask me to do something like this. This senior project has really opened a lot of doors for me and I also found out a lot about myself as a person from doing this kind of work. I feel honored that Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. gave me the opportunity to be apart of their company for three weeks, and I want to thank them for that. These last three weeks with the MBTS is something that will stick with my forever.

Friday: May 23rd: Last Day at MBTS

Today was my last day of my Senior Project with Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc, and I went out with a bang. I started the day at 7:00 am and ended at 1:00pm. I was in charge of all the jobs that Steve and I were assigned to do today. Our day consisted of two removals and two large pruning jobs. I successfully drove all the trucks today, operated and did all of the cutting from the bucket truck, and did a quick climbing job. I was extremely successful at running the MBTS crew today and we got all the jobs accomplished. All three things I did today were my three overall goals for my project. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures today because the digital camera was out of battery.
These past three weeks of my Senior Project have been awesome. I want to thank Kevin and Linus for being my sponsors and giving me this great opportunity to be apart of their company. Everyday was a new adventure with this group of guys and most of all great learning experiences. At the end of the day today, Kevin and I were reflecting back on these last few weeks. Kevin offered me a job working with MBTS for the summer months, and I couldn’t resist but to accept his offer. All my hard work these last few weeks must have paid off. This has been an extremely long week, we putting in over 30 hours by Wednesday. It is now time to rest up and work of my presentation for Tuesday.

Thursday: May 22nd

Today seemed like only a half a day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. We started at 7:00 am and ended at 3:00pm instead of 5:30pm like it has been the last few days. What a great feeling it was! We had our full four man crew back, Kevin who is the owner and tree expert, Linus who is also known as “Ali” is other owner and head of all personal relations, Steve who is a chipper technician and ground worker, and myself, the intern. Today we were back up in Hampton, NH to a large limb removal over a tree and house. That was our first job. I was introduced to yet another new lowering system called a speed line. I have never seen anything like it before. The best way to describe it is like a zip line. All it consists of if a rope, sling, and a carabineer. Kevin would make a cut, and the branches would zip right down the rope, over the pool and right to the end of the chipper. I was very impressed with this lowering devise. The second job we did was the cut back of all limbs hanging low and growing into the owner’s house. We went right around the property and lightened things up real nice. Tomorrow, I will conclude my project my putting together all my goals and see how well I achieved them. I will be doing all the driving, bucket truck operation and climbing. I am going to have to be on top of my game tomorrow in order for the Murphy Brothers to write me a good end of project evaluation.

Wednesday May 21st: Hampton, NH

Today was yet another long day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service. I got to the truck at 7:00 am and got on the highway to head up to Hampton, NH where I met Linus with the bucket truck. The last few days, Linus has been keeping the bucket truck at his house in Amesbury to try to save on fuel since diesel fuel is now almost close to five dollars a gallon. At Murphy Brothers Tree Service, we are all about fuel conservation. Today we did mostly large pruning jobs, and also removed a good size Cherry tree as well as a small Pussy Willow tree. The two jobs we did today were very long and tedious work. There was not good access to the trees, so we could not use the bucket truck and had to drag brush around a pool and then throw it over a fence. It was no fun. I was able to work on my climbing on the small Pussy Willow tree, and then Linus took care of the rest of the climbing. When I was on the ground today, I learned all about a new pulley system called a 2:1 ratio. (Picture Below) This system gives your extra strength when you are pulling. For example, we used it today to pull over the but of a tree that was leaning way back onto another piece of property. This system worked great and we were able to pull it over easier than ever. At the last job of the day, I was in charge of trimming all the over grown hedges around the property. When they were all done, they looked beautiful. Tomorrow, I am now sure what is planned. One thing I do know for sure if that we will have Kevin back on the job site with all of his professional expertise in the tree business and hope to finish up at our normal time, between 3:00pm and 4:00 pm. Today was another late day at MBTS; we finished up at 5:30 pm.

Tuesday: May 20th:

Today was another great day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service. It was just Linus and I again today. We started at 7:00 am and ended at 5:30 pm. Today we did four jobs, with two of them taking a good amount of time because either the tree was dead or because we had to lower and hold different sections of the tree. Today, I learned some more new lowering systems and techniques and am becoming very good at it. I also learned different types of knots for different situations. Today I learned a few different types of knots for tying either a lowering line or a throw ball onto the climbing line and even learned how to make a quick figure eight loop so clip a saw onto a climbing line to be pulled up into the tree. The last job of the day we did was taking a few liters off a Norway Maple tree. This job was in Newburyport where the houses are practically right on top of each other. We maneuvered the bucket truck into the driveway first to do all the cutting a lowering and stacked all the brush in the back yard until we were done. We then backed the chip truck into the tight driveway and chewed up the enormous pile of brush in a timely fashion. We stacked the brush ahead of time, which made things much easier when it came time to chip. In this situation, other tree services would just drop all the brush and have it intertwined, which makes it a nightmare to chip. I have experienced this first hand, and it is no fun. By just taking a few liters off the Norway Maple, it was amazing how much of a difference it did for the backyard. The homeowner was extremely pleased with our work like always. Tomorrow, I will be going to pick up the chip truck in the morning to dump all the chips from today then meeting Linus up in Salisbury, Ma. Once again, it was a great day at MBTS Inc.

Monday: May 19th: Windy Day

Today was a long day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service. It was only Linus and I. We started at 7:30am and ended at 5:30 pm. I drove the chip truck and chipper, and Linus drove the bucket truck. For the most part we motored through the jobs we had to get done. It was a nice day out weather wise, but it was an extremely windy day, which made things very difficult for climbing and lowering. The first job of the day we did in no time. It was just a brush pile. We have been getting a lot of these jobs lately because of spring-cleaning. The second job we did was the removal of two Pine tree, a small Maple tree, and a Cherry tree. This job went fairly quick because all of the brush was staying. At this job, I work on my saw skills on the ground and cut up all of the big wood for firewood for the homeowner. The next job we had was the biggest job of the day. We had to climb and remove a large Hickory tree behind a pool. At this point, the wind was really whipping and it was a bit shaky being up in the tree as the tree rocked back and forth. This job did not have good access so we had to drag all the brush to the side of the house to be chipped. For only two guys, this job was a lot of work. The last job of the day was an average size job, but took us the longest. At this job, we had to cut the dead wood out of a few Maple trees and then do a hazardous removal on a dead Elm tree hanging into the yard from the woods. This time Linus got up in the tree because the tree was dead and he had to rig up a lowering system from up in the tree to keep the tree off the fence. From the ground, I was feeding Linus up several different lowering lines and throw balls to tie off the tree. I also watched closely from the ground the different ways he was tying himself into the tree so I can learn different ways. We successfully got this dead hazardous tree down to the ground without any damage done to the yard or fence. When we were all done and had the yard and driveway all cleaned up, I went and dumped the truck for the day, then headed back to the shop. I successfully back the truck into the parking space all on my own when I returned to the shop. Hopefully, the wind will die down for tomorrow, but it does not sound promising, which is no big deal. Hopefully, a lot of trees will fall with the wind over night and we will get the call to remove them. Tomorrow, Linus and I are back at it, and look forward to completing another successful at MBTS.

Two Weeks Down With MBTS: Weekly Reflection

With my second week now complete with Murphy Brothers Tree Service, I feel as though I have come along way from the first day. This week was not just a five-day workweek. In fact, it was a seven-day workweek. Altogether I put in 53 hours this week, which was Monday through Sunday. Kevin informed me that this past week is what they like to call a full workweek. We learned this week not to listen to the weathermen, and work whether the forecast said it was suppose to be sun or rain. Because we did this we were able to get tons of work done, actually more than Kevin and Linus expected.
This week I learned several new skills and techniques in the tree business. Many of these skills and techniques I learned were extremely beneficial to me achieving my goals, but also furthering my knowledge in the tree business. I learned about all the different hand signal for when you are backing up a truck with or without a chipper on the back. This was extremely helpful for me as I am starting to become more comfortable behind the wheel of the large trucks. I learned about hazardous tree removal and different types of lowering systems and knots for when I get up into the tree this week. Knowing about all of these whether you are up in the tree or on the ground are crucial, especially for safety purposes. At the beginning of the week, I learned how to stabilize the bucket truck before going up in it by putting out the outriggers, two on each side of the truck. Without the outriggers down, the bucket should never be operated. On Wednesday, I finally got up in the bucket to remove dead limbs from an Oak tree. It took a little bit to figure out the controls of the bucket, and which does what but towards the end of the day I felt much more comfortable up there. It is quite the feeling to be 65 feet up in the air. Kevin and Linus both told me that it takes a lot of practice to become and expert up in the bucket like they are! I also learned about truck and equipment maintainence. On Friday, it was time for the blades on the chipper to be changed. Depending on what kind of jobs you have been doing, where you have been chipping from, and how much thick wood you chip, the blades should be changed or rotated every two to three weeks. Linus ‘loves’ his Woodman 15 X chipper and has been talking a lot about making an up grade to the Woodsman 18 XX. Jobs always go a lot quick when all the equipment is in tip top shape. The Murphy Brothers pride themselves on this, for example, always having sharp saws, and always have the trucks looking real nice and in great running condition.
I have thoroughly enjoyed these last two weeks with Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. I feel as though I have been catching on quickly to all I have been being taught and try to apply it on the job whenever I can. All the activities that I have been doing consistently have been helping me work towards reaching my goals. I am looking forward to another great week of learning with MBTS!

Friday: May 16th Truck and Equipment Repairs

The week came to a real good end today at Murphy Brother Tree Service. I got a start on my day at 6am and got to the shop early to go dump the chip truck to continue practice my driving. Once the truck was empty, I headed back to the shop to meet the rest of the MBTS crew. We started the day off with a tailgate meeting, and discussed what we had planned for today and what we had accomplished this week. Today, we only did tree work until about noontime. We started off by pruning a large Maple tree. This took no time at all. The second job we went to was a removal of an Ash tree. This job turned out to be a mess, mainly because as the limbs came to the ground, they splattered every which way. As always, MBTS prides ourselves on spotless clean ups, and left the customers yard better than it looked before we got there. As we were wrapping up the job, we attempted to chip a beat up piece of plywood, which we lay down when we need to driver trucks on lawns. This piece of plywood had seen better days so we cut it up and put it threw the chipper. Unfortunately, the plywood jammed the shoot of the chipper, and we then had to take the shoot off the chipper and use handsaws to cut out the plywood. I learned never to put plywood through a chipper. We over came the adversity and kept on with our day. The third job we did was another small removal of a Japanese Maple. This job was the quickest of the day. We chipped all the branches and cut the rest up for firewood for the neighbor. After this job, it was time to fuel the trucks before diesel prices go up again, and then head back to the Murphy Brothers Tree Service Headquarters. At the head quarters, we cleaned out all the inside of the trucks, fixed up saws and hand tools, and most importantly, I learned how to change the blades on a chipper. The blades should be changed or rotated about everyday two to three weeks. Our chipper, The Woodsman 15x was well due for a blade change after the crane job on Wednesday. Wednesday we were chipping in gravel and sand, and little rocks and pebbles went through, which dulls the blades terribly. I also learned how important it is to always have sharp blades on your chipper because if they are dull, it will be a lot harder to chip the wood, and it will put a lot of strain on the engine. We finished up at the headquarters around 4pm, and brought the trucks back to the shop. Yet again had another, I had another real good week at Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc with a lot of great learning experiences to go with it. Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I plan on going to help Kevin was the trucks.

Thursday: May 15 Lot Clearing

Today was yet again another great day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service. We started at 7:00 am and ended at 4:00 pm. Our job for today was to clear the perimeter of a homeowner’s property so that they can eventually put a fence up. I never realized until today about how curious people are about tree work. In fact, the person next door to the people were working for was an old man, and he stood there all day today and took pictures of us as we worked for some strange reason. We started removing trees at the side of the yard closest to where the street was. For the most part, we did not need the bucket truck on this job. Instead, most of the trees were able to be felled, which means you make a cut at the base of the tree and the tree goes right over. I learned and watched today about the proper way to fell a tree. First you put a line in it to pull it over if needed, and then you make a pie cut in the base of the tree, which the face of the pie cut locates where the tree will land. Then you make you back cut on the backside of the tree slowing and the tree will fall over. At Murphy Brothers, they are professionals at this. Most of the time if the tree is tall they will tie a line into it and have a few guys on the line pull it over just to be safe. I got a chance to try to fell a small tree towards the end of the job. I was successful at doing so! I am starting to realize how many different aspects there are in the tree business to make it run smoothly. Tomorrow, I hope to get back up in the bucket truck after it was just had its yearly inspection on the Ariel lift this afternoon.

Wednesday: May 14 Crane Job

Today at Murphy Brothers, we did one big crane job that took us the whole day. We started at 7:00am and ended at 4:00pm. We used the crane to remove several large Pine trees over 100 feet tall. The crane was set up in a good location so that it could boom out and reach all the trees we needed to remove. The trees come down in large picks on the end of the crane. The section of the tree you want to take is attached to the crane by a large choker. The best way to describe a choker is a like a large elastic band, but it this case it not stretchy. Since the Pine trees we were removing were so large, we were not able to chip the whole tree. Instead, we chipped the tops of the trees by using the wench to pull them to the chipper, and then had the log truck come and pick up the rest of the tree. The log truck saves a lot of time because you don’t have to cut it all up into firewood size and throw it in the back of the truck. Today I finally got up in the bucket truck. It was a great experience! Kevin guided me through the different controls in the actually bucket itself, and then I headed up into the air to remove the dead branches from a large Oak tree. At first when I was going up in the bucket, it took me a few minutes how to figure out the control. If you move the hydraulic levers too quickly, the bucket will jump all over the place, and you don’t want that. You want to be steady and slow on the levers. Kevin and Linus both told me that it will take a lot of practice to become a master like them in the bucket. On the way back to the shop, Steve and I had to go dump the truck to get ready for tomorrow. At the dump, Steve taught me a trick about backing the truck up to the chipper when you are trying to line it back up. You put two rakes down and make a "T" with them at the back tire. When you are backing up you want to stop the truck right where it meets the truck. This is a very good trick if you have to go dump the truck by yourself, then hitch the chipper back up. I was very pleased with what I accomplished today. Tomorrow is another day, and I hope to improve on my skills and learn more!

Tuesday: May 13

Today was another productive day at MBTS. We started at 7:00am and ended at 4:00pm. Today we did three different jobs, and all consisted of tree removals. We were back to our crew of four today and we were cruising through the jobs like always. All of the jobs today for the most part had a good setup, which means that you can practically set the bucket truck and the chipper up side by side. This always makes life a lot easier because you don’t have to lump a lot of brush. On the first job, Kevin climbed two small Maple trees behind a shed, and removed them completely. While Kevin was in the tree, I was on the ground watching the different ways he ties his safety line into the tree, and also made sure that his lines did not get caught or the fence or any branches he was cutting. We were in and out of this first job in no time. The second job we went to was right down the road. Again, we had to remove a Maple tree, but this time it was a lot bigger, and we were able to use the bucket truck, which makes the job a lot easier. When we pulled up to the job, Kevin positioned the truck the way he would like, and then I was in charge of putting down the outriggers, with pads underneath, and then making sure the truck was stable. The last job of the day we did was another Maple tree. This Maple tree was the biggest tree of the day, and was going to be the most difficult because of how windy it was out, and because there were power lines down below. This meant that we had to set up a lowering system with two different lines off the back of the truck, with a man on each line. Lowering limb by limb is never an easy or fun technique to use, but in today’s situation with the wind and power lines, it was a must. Once Kevin had the whole tree limbed out, and everything was lowered to the ground, Kevin began to chunk the rest of the tree down, and luckily we got to leave all the wood there for fire wood. This was the last job of the day. We headed back to the shop, to prepare for tomorrow, which is going to a big day because we have crane jobs. Kevin sharpened up the saws, I got my practice driving in by driving to the farm to dump the chip truck, and Linus headed off to do estimates. It is now time to rest up for tomorrow!

Week 2: Monday

Today was a very productive day for both myself, and Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. Even though it was just Linus and I today, we motored right threw the jobs, and I worked on learning some new things. We started at 6:30 am and ended at 4:30 pm. We did a total of four jobs today, mostly just pruning and one removal. The first job we did we needed to do a hazardous tree removal and prune back any limbs that were growing into the power lines. The hazardous removal we had to do was a dead Pine tree the split half way down the tree and was about to fall on the power lines if the wind blew it anymore. We used an abrasive lowering system which consisted of two lines going to the ground. Linus first went up in the bucket and the two lines off, one to the top of the tree, and one to the bottom of the tree where it had cracked. The top line was to hold the top off the tree up while the lower line was to lower the but of the tree down slowly. This was a lot of work because I was the only man on the ground and had to man both lines. When we finally got the tree to the ground, it was a great relief. All it would have taken was for the pine tree to slip a little, and it would have gone right on the wires which wouldn’t have been a good thing at all. The next thing I learned how to do today was stabilize the bucket truck by putting all four outriggers out. The bucket truck can never be operated without the outriggers down. Many times you have to put pads under the outriggers so that they do not damage a yard or driveway, or if you are on a soft area like we were today. Once all four outriggers are down, you are all set to operate the truck. Tomorrow, I hope to get up in the bucket! The last and most important thing I worked on today was backing the chip truck up with the chipper on the back. This is extremely difficult. Before I even attempted to back up the truck and chipper, Linus and I went over the hand signals for backing up which are extremely helpful. Once you get the hand signals down for when to turn, follow your turn and go straight back, it makes life a lot easier. I practiced 3 times today, and all three times it went well. More you practice, the easier it will become. The key is to always go slow and watch closely the person who is giving you the hand signals backing you up. I feel as though I have come along way from behind the since just a week ago. Kevin and Linus keep telling me, the more practice I get the more comfortable I will become, and I can already see a difference from last Monday. Today was a long day and a lot of work with only 2 guys. Tomorrow, we will be back to are regular 4 man crew, and plan to go strong for the rest of the week.

One Week Complete: Weekly Reflection

My first week of my Senior Project with Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. I thought went extremely well, so did both owners Kevin and Linus Murphy. We worked almost everyday, weather permitting, and even put on rain gear and went out in the rain for a day. Altogether, I put in a total of 43 hours this past week. I learned that 43 hours a week is only an average amount of hours we will be working a week. It will be more like 50 plus hours a week when you get five to six good working days in, and we are hoping for that this up coming week.
I was very please with what I learned and accomplished this past week. My main goal for this last week was to become comfortable behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle with a chipper on the back and learn how to drive a standard. My sponsor Kevin was extremely pleased with how well I pick up on driving the chip truck as well as his brother Linus too. I think Linus was the most happy out of the three of us because this will now allow him to do tree work the days that Kevin and Steve are at the firehouse since I feel comfortable and they are confident with me behind the wheel. In fact, tomorrow, Linus and I will be going out working while Kevin and Steve are at the firehouse. I will drive the chip truck and Linus will drive the bucket truck, and we will be in business! I can now see why Kevin and Linus didn’t waste any time from the start getting me behind the wheel of the truck. The company will now be able to keep the trucks moving five to six days a week as they have always hoped for. Since it is a small company with only about a handful of employees, it has been hard for Murphy Brothers Tree to keep the trucks moving as much as they would like. I learned that when the trucks sit at the shop, the company is losing money because they are not making any money that day and still have to make payments on the trucks.
I have loved what I have been doing thus far. I have worked for a landscaping company before, and tree work is nothing like landscaping at all. It is a totally different art and skill. I knew from the start it was going to be a lot of work and a lot of responsibility, but I did not mind one bit because I love being outside and doing manual labor. Although tree work can be very dangerous, if you think everything through before you do it, do not mess around on the job, and wear the proper safety equipment at all times, you should not have a problem.
I feel like everyday this past week, I learned something new. Tomorrow, Linus will meet at the shop early to fuel the trucks, then being the work week. This week Kevin and Linus are several jobs planned for each day, and hope that the rain holds out! I can’t wait to jump in the truck in the morning and continue to practice my commercial driving.

Day 5: Rainy Day

Today, the weather was terrible here, so we did not do tree work. We knew this in advance so we planned other things to do today. Kevin had an appointment in Boston, so Linus and I had some odd jobs that needed to get done. The first thing we had to do was estimates. Estimates are when a customer calls you and would like you to do work for them. Today we had five different estimates to do, all with a scheduled time to do them at so we could meet with the customer. I learned a lot about pricing out jobs today. I learned there are many things you need to look for. First is the size of the job and tree. The bigger the tree and bigger the job the more money it will cost. Other things that are taken into account are what equipment will be needed on the job, how many men, how long the job will take, and lastly the biggest things is access to the tree. If there is good access to the tree, for the most part, it will cost less because the customer will not be charged for a climbing price because using the bucket truck is a lot less work. On the fifth estimate, Linus gave me the estimate form and said, "This one is all you!" This job that I did the estimate on was a good size job. It consisted of two large White Pine trees on the side of the house and a large Red Oak Tree in front of the house. This job had a good setup, which means that there was good access to get the bucket truck in and a good landing for all the brush. After I did up all the paper work on the slip and thought through the complete job in my head, I came up with a price of $1,800. I talked it over with Linus and he was extremely pleased with how I priced out the job. He said he would have gone closer to $2,000 for a price but after we talked it over, we settled with $1,800. The customer was very pleased with this price and we landed the job on the spot. I found it very easy to talk to the customer simply because I knew the exact trees the customer was talking about because of my study of dendrology in forestry. After we were done with the estimates, we got a coffee, and then had to take the chip truck to get its yearly state inspection sticker. On the way to get the truck inspected, I was behind the wheel. My goal for today behind the wheel was to pull onto Route 128 which is a main highway from a complete stop. Surprisingly I did this without any problem. I have to come to the conclusion that it is all about taking your time and listening to the sound of the trucks engine. After today, Linus questioned me if I have driven a standard before this, and I told him 'no' which is the truth. He is extremely pleased with my progress behind the wheel in just a week. Tomorrow, even though it is a Saturday, we will be going out to do a full days work, rain or shine because we were not able to make it out today.

Day 4: Crane Job

Today had its ups and its downs. When we met at the shop at 6:30am, the first thing we had to do was pick up the chip truck and chipper from getting fixed. Before we could do this, we discovered that the bucket truck had a screw in the back drivers side tire and it was flat. What I did not know was that the truck was still drivable because it is a double axel in back. Linus and Steve stayed at the shop to plug the tire and Kevin and I went to the garage to pick up the chip truck and chipper so that I could get my practice in behind the wheel. Once everything was ready to go for the day, we headed up to Hampton Falls, NH to do a crane job. I was unsure how this job was going to go because it was my first crane job. The crane is an amazing machine. It can reach 150 feet in the air and lift large pieces of trees over houses to the ground. The first two crane picks went well, but it was the third pick that everything started to go down hill. As we were dragging brush to the chipper from the second pick, it knocked a hydraulic lever out of gear on the back on the crane, which shut the whole crane down. None of us could figure out what was wrong so Linus had to get on the phone with the crane company to try to have them troubleshoot what the problem might be. Meanwhile, the top of a large tree was stuck in the air over a house, and also Kevin was up in the tree waiting to see what the problem is. After about an hour of troubleshooting, the person from the crane company that was helping Linus trouble shoot told him to look at the back of the crane where the hydraulic controls were and make sure that the left hydraulic level was flipped up, which it was not. Once that was flipped back up the crane was fine and the job went on. After today, I learned that not everyday on the job can go smooth as you would like. After the crane go back up and running, we were flying on the trees. My main job today was to continue to practice my driving by going to dump the truck every few hours. The 40-yard chip truck was filling up faster than usual today because for the most part we were putting whole trees through the chipper instead of just small branches. I am looking forward to next time we do a crane job. Kevin's plan is to strap me in the climbing belt and put me 150 feet in the air on the end of the crane ball just to get an idea of what it is like to be up that high when your in an actual tree. I am really looking forward to this so I can get a better idea of what it is like to be up in the air that high. Kevin told me that it is all about trusting the equipment you are using. Even with the hour delay in today’s job, we still finished the job much earlier than we had expected. The overall cost of today’s job was $6,500 which shocked me at first, but once I thought about it, it all made sense. Tomorrow is not looking too promising for the weather so we do not have any tree work planned. Instead, Linus is going to take me with him in the morning to teach to me the proper way to go about doing an estimate and pricing out a job. The picture to go along with today’s blog is the crane at mid range extension, and Kevin up in the tree.

Day 3: MBTS

Today was a very laid back day at Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc. I got to the shop at the usual time, 6:45am. I warmed up the trucks, fueled the saws and did a quick pre trip inspection as I waited for the guys to get there. When Kevin arrived, he informed me that today was going to be a "non productive" day. It was just Kevin and I today because Linus was at the firehouse and Steve had to teach a child seat safety course. We started off the day by taking down a small Pine tree and pruning a Hemlock tree of a house. Kevin started teach me the art of pruning with hand snips and a hand saw instead of using a chain saw. My job was to prune from the ground up to as high as I could go then Kevin would get the top with the bucket truck. The second job we did was to chip a brush pile. This took us all of ten minutes because we wrapped a wench around the pile of brush and it dragged it right to the chipper. After this chipping job, we were done with tree work for the day. We now needed to bring the chip truck to get an oil change and fix a transmission leak, and drop the chipper off to get welded because of stress and vibration cracks. Since it was just Kevin and I, we had the pick up truck and chip truck and chipper. I thought I would be driving the pick up truck, following Kevin the mechanic, but I was wrong. Kevin had me drive the chip truck and chipper. We had to make two stops, one to the welder to drop the chipper then to the mechanic to drop the chip truck. When we got to the welder to drop the chipper off, Kevin never got out of the pick up. He put down the window and told me, "Pretend I'm not here, how would you disconnect the chipper." I did so with no problem and now we were off the mechanic. On the way to the mechanic, we got stuck behind a school bus that was making stops every couple hundred feet. I thought I was going to have a lot of trouble, but in fact it was good practice for me getting out of the low gear and into first gear. One of the times I was stopped on the middle of a hill, and that is the worst possible situation to be in to shift. I thought for sure I was going to stall out, so did Kevin. Some how I didn’t. I took my time and did not get nervous and I was fine. Kevin told me that getting out of low and first gear are the hardest things to do. He was very pleased with how I handled the truck today on my own. Since Monday, I already feel more comfortable behind the wheel. After the chip truck was dropped off, we went back to the shop to get the bucket truck. It was now time to wash and wax the bucket truck. We took it down to the back of the firehouse, and enjoyed the beautiful weather while we washed. We scrubbed every inch of the truck, from the tires, to the boom of the bucket. This took us just about 3 hours. Kevin told me that the washing of the trucks is a weekly job, whether is during the week or on the weekend. They do this so that the trucks look nice when we pull up to job sights, so they will last longer, and most of all because they take pride in all their equipment. We finished up at 2pm. I was very happy with what I was able to accomplish today behind the wheel of the International 4700 chip truck, and I feel as though I will be getting better at driving everyday.

Day 2: MBTS

Today was a long day of work. I had to be at the shop at 6:45 because Kevin, Linus, Steve were at the firehouse until 7:30. When I got there, I was the only person there. I had to start all the trucks and chipper to warm them up, and then fueled all the saws so that they would be ready to go. I also took the initiative, and started on the parts of the pre-trip inspection in which I learned the day before. When the three of them got down to the shop, we were pretty much ready to take off. Kevin explained to me how huge it was for me to be able to get down to the shop early to warm up the trucks and fuel the saws. He then explained to me their schedule at the firehouse. Him and Steve work the same shift, and Linus works a different shift because two family members cant work the same shift for safety reasons. They work two-day shifts from 7:30 am until 5:30pm, then two night shifts from 5:30pm until 7:30am, then have four straight days off. Last night they were at the firehouse, and tonight they had to be back there too, so there is no time to waste during the day getting jobs done because we are on a strict timetable. With me getting to the shop early to get everything going, it saved about a half hour of wasted time and Kevin and Linus are very appreciative of that. Today, we were local, right in Danvers, Ma, which is awesome for saving fuel after I saw the fuel bill after filling the trucks yesterday. I couldn’t believe it! We started off by removing a large Maple tree from a backyard. This was the worst of the two jobs we did today. We were not able to use the bucket truck, so Linus had to climb the tree. From the ground, I lumped brush from the back of the house to the front where the chipper was and also watched carefully how Linus made his way up the tree. After watching Linus today, I can't wait to learn how to climb. The second job we did was a piece of cake compared to the first job. We had to fall five huge pine trees, probably about 70ft each, then one dead Oak tree. The best part about this job was that we did not have to chip any of the brush, we left it all where it landed in this open field. When all the trees were on the ground, the saws started. Kevin give me a small STHIL saw, which I was not expecting, which is what they use when they climb, and told me to start cutting. I started cutting everything up small, or as the guys call it, "bucking it up." We didn’t get back to the shop for the day until around 5. Kevin and Steve had to leave the job early so they could get ready to go back to the firehouse tonight. Linus and I stayed there cutting. I am not sure what is in store for tomorrow, but I will be back down at the shop again early to get a jump-start on things. Above is a picture of Linus climbing the Maple tree on the first job.

Monday: Day 1 With Murphy Brothers Tree Service Inc.

Today was the first day of my Senior Project. I reported to the shop at 6:30am where all the trucks are kept. The shop is located in Danvers, Ma, which is where we will meet every morning before we start working. At the shop we were told the plan for the day. Today, we headed up to the Amesbury, Ma and Newburyport, Ma and had four jobs to do. We had a crew of four guys today, Kevin and Linus Murphy who are the owners, and myself and Steve Cameron. Kevin, Linus and Steve are all firefighters so they insured me that I would be in good hands. At the shop, Kevin walked me through the pre-trip inspection on the bucket truck and chip truck. He stressed the importance on the chip truck that always making sure the chipper is secure on the hitch before you start the truck, and on the bucket truck that you do not see any hydraulic fluid leaking. Today we just started with the basics and the most important for the pre trip inspection because over the next few weeks I will be learning all of them. I will be taught a new part of the inspection every morning. From the shop, all three trucks and the chipper needed to be fueled and the chip truck needed to be emptied. We packed the trucks with out lunches and tools. As we were getting in the trucks, I was asked by Linus, "What are you doing Denny?" I didn't know what I was doing wrong, I had only been on the job for 15 minutes. They wanted me to drive the chip truck to the dump and then to be fueled. I thought they were kidding, but they weren't. I jumped in the drivers seat with Steve in the passengers seat, and we were off. I had never driven a truck this big before never mind with a 7,000-pound chipper on the back. I was extremely nervous and Steve was instructing me as I went along and made me try to feel comfortable behind the wheel. After we dumped and fueled the trucks, they still had me behind the wheel, until we had to get on the highway. They told me that I would be driving by the end of the week on the highway. By 7:45 the saws were starting and the cutting began. The first two jobs were removals of dead trees, which I thought were big trees, but the guys informed me these trees were small compared to what we will be doing in the next few weeks. The third job we did we had to remove tree limbs off a house and power lines. I surprised all the guys by identifying the tree we were pruning, in which it was a Horse Chestnut. I learned how to identify a Horse Chestnut tree in Forestry class this year along with any other trees, so I hope it comes in handy in the next few weeks. The guys were extremely shocked that I knew that. We finished the day in Newburyport, Ma by chipping a large brush pile. With four guys, we were able to finish this job in about 20 minutes. This took us to about 3 pm. On the way back, I went in the chip truck with Steve to dump the chip truck at the local dump in the area. They wanted me to go with him so that he could teach me how to hitch the chipper back up to the truck after you dump. On the way back to the shop on the highway, Steve told me to make sure to never have a full load of chips in the truck so you don’t get pulled over and fined at the weigh station for driving an overweight truck. We returned to the shop at 4pm, and emptied out all the trucks to prepare for tomorrow. I will meet back at trucks early again in the morning. I really enjoyed my first day with MBTS and am planning on bringing my camera tomorrow to take pictures.