Doug Hardy, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 3 of 3

It happens. People lose things all the time, but this recovery was special.

I was contacted by a woman who had lost her late husband’s wedding ring. If that sounds odd, it’s because she was wearing it. After her husband passed, she started wearing his ring and her own, with her ring on the outside as a « stop » to keep her husband’s larger ring from falling off.

On this particular day, she had decided to garden in her yard and for whatever reason, had reversed the rings on her finger (so the husband’s was on the outside). Without her smaller ring to anchor it, her husband’s ring came off and she was unable to find it. Given her sentimental attachment to the lost ring, finding it was imperative!

She showed me where she had been gardening, pruning, trimming, and other yard tasks, which turned out to cover a rectangular area about 75 ft x 10 ft. I was able to find the ring buried down in the dirt and return it — a happy ending is always a good way to end the day!

Sometimes, even the most well-intentioned activities don’t turn out the way you think. A young mom had been playing in the yard with her young daughter and thought that tossing leaves in the air would be fun for both of them. It was, or at least it was until she realized later that her ring had come off during their playtime. She and her husband had searched the yard where they had been playing, but no ring. They had also rented a metal detector, but because of the electric lines, cable lines, water pipes, etc., buried in the yard, there was too much interference for them to locate the ring.

She contacted me to come out and it took about 45 min to locate the ring. As you can see, she’s a happy camper!

  

People become attached to things…like jewelry…and especially engagement and wedding rings. I got a tentative call from a sheriff’s deputy in a nearby county. (He ) His fiancee had lost her engagement ring. I’m thinking « OK, it happens. » He described what they were doing when she lost it — taking the groceries from the car to the house — and he knew exactly the path she had walked when taking in the groceries.

When he said he had searched the « she-lost-it-in-this-area » the entire day, but had no luck in finding the ring, it had me wondering why. I drove to their house and we mapped out the area to search. Thankfully, because it was a fairly well-defined area, I was able to find the ring quickly and return it. It turned out that the ring had worked its way down through the grass and was sitting on the soil, so it was maybe 3 inches down — definitely not visible.

Breaking out the detector allowed me to find it quickly, and it was in exactly the location he said. Glad to be able to help out!

The email starts off like this:  « My wife and I have been married for two years, and she’s been after me to resize my wedding band for almost that whole time. I’d really like to make it to three years… » You can’t let an opener like that go by.

I contacted the man and asked him to describe the situation — what was he doing when he lost it, where was he, etc. Turns out he was out weeding in his yard and midway through, noticed that his wedding band was gone. He was pulling up weeds and placing them in a pile, which he then put into a trash can.

After he realized the ring was gone, he searched all the likely places and even borrowed a cheap-o metal detector to try and find the lost ring, but no luck. I came over on a Sunday morning and rechecked the areas he had searched. We started with the weeded areas, checked the weed pile, and lastly checked the trashcan. I found the ring under the « weed debris » that had been in the can. Husband and wife are both happy and the third year looks solid!

I usually get contacted when someone loses a ring or other precious piece of jewelry. This time it was something different, but every bit as precious to the owner — his keys.

This fellow had lost his keys while gardening.I’m sure that’s happened before, but as the ad says « But wait! There’s more! » He explained that because it was extremely hot, he’d gone out into his garden at night, wearing pajama bottoms (I know, bordering on TMI), which don’t have pockets. Because of the « no pockets »thing, he’d put his keys in his shirt pocket. The keys fell out of his shirt pocket, and with his headphones on, he didn’t hear them hit the ground. House key, car key, truck key, work keys, padlock keys, etc. — this guy was in a serious fix.

He showed me where he had been in his garden and it took me about 30 minutes to find them — under some squash leaves. This guy was all kinds of happy!

This is one of those « if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it » adventures.

I got a call on Christmas Eve from a frantic husband about a lost wedding ring. Apparently his wife had been after him to wear a wedding ring for years, and although he had initially refused, he finally relented and agreed to start wearing one.

Just before Christmas, he decided to brush out the dog on the back step of their house. In the process of clearing the hair from the dog brush, his ring went flying off his hand. He said he had heard it hit something, but couldn’t say for sure what it had hit or where it had gone. He searched the entire area and even rented a metal detector, but still didn’t find it, which is when he called me for help.

Here’s what we now know actually happened:  after the ring left his hand, it went through a slatted wood fence on his own property, then ricocheted off a chain link fence in his neighbor’s yard, and ended up several feet beyond that. I was able to get the neighbor’s permission to search and after about an hour of searching, I recovered the ring. Glad I was able to get him out of the doghouse!